Jurassic Park: The Legacy of Site B
by Anguirus111
Summary: The world knows of Isla Sorna only as a lost world, but few remember the days when it was still InGen's Site B Facility.  This is the untold story of its final days and the sequence of decisions that were made thereby ensuring its self-destruction.
1. Introductions

A/N: This has always been a project in the back of my mind to completely rewrite Demons of the Future. That story started off as a great idea and then devolved into what I feel ended up being a terribly written story. I've always been fascinated with the idea that Site B potentially suffered a disastrous end like Jurassic Park did, but Ludlow and then there was a cover up by InGen to conceal what happened and then Hurricane Clarissa basically destroyed all the evidence. With this story I've basically freed myself of the continuity established in all of the Demons Trilogy and can begin anew and also work on a number of ideas I had for Demons of the Future that never panned out over the course of writing it. So once again this story takes place in the days from when Jurassic Park fell to when Hurricane Clarissa destroyed Site B. Oh and I'm borrowing a number of ideas from the novels and incorporating them into the film timeline so just a disclaimer that I don't own the JP franchise.

1993, Isla Nublar: Scientists Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were silently standing amongst a cadre of silent armed workers watching the trees beyond a small clearing from the tower beside the Raptor pen.

"Man is it cold out," Jake complained quietly as he shivered briefly.

"Then why are we here…or why am I here?" asked Henry curious. Jake glanced at him briefly.

"You know how dangerous that alpha female was, I need to know she made it safely into its pen," responded the other scientist. "It took way more tranq darts than should've been necessary to bring her down in the first place and she still nearly killed one of the workers who went in there to secure her back on Sorna. That she's awake now after all that says to me that we can't take any chances until she's locked up."

Henry nodded as a low growl filled the air and a forklift emerged carrying a large container at the top.

"I just don't know what went 'wrong' with her. The other raptors were fairly docile overall and on a good day you could feed them by hand. But this one…I'll need to run some more tests and see if we didn't make a mistake somewhere with the DNA sequencing," said Henry also shivering, though not from the cold as the crate was lowered onto the dock and was now being pushed towards the pen. Jake cradled his taser gun that had been given to him by Muldoon but Henry had chosen to go weaponless and was now beginning to regret that decision, even despite being so high up.

"This wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. Remember the dimetrodons?" asked Jake pointedly. "Not even the Spinosaurus is that bloodthirsty."

"And the Carnotaurus that can somehow display natural invisibility," Henry continued as the crate was locked into place below and the two had to lean forward to get a glimpse of it over the gate. A lone worker was now climbing atop the crate to lift the front gate.

"What was it Ian Malcolm usually says?" asked Jake as the gate was being lifted. "Life will always find a way…"

A bone chilling roar was heard and suddenly the crate slammed backwards and the worker spilled off of it as shots were heard and chaos erupted below.

Some time later, Costa Rica: "Oh, that was ugly," said Jake as he and Henry pushed open the front doors of the courthouse where they had just been grilled on the incident at the Raptor Pit by the court to determine proper settling of the lawsuit raised by the family of the worker who had perished in the incident.

"You're telling me," said Henry miffed. "That judge was not happy about that non-disclosure agreement preventing us from saying what killed him. Only that a giant lizard was responsible was all that we could admit to. As for the proper security being followed, I had no more clue on that question than you did."

Behind them a female scientist, Carly Carlson, emerged as well and followed them.

"Hey, did you see Gennaro's face throughout that thing? He was only getting redder and redder," she added.

"No, but I'm not surprised," said Jake as he paused at the street. "You want to go get something to eat to settle your nerves? As much as a pain Nedry is, there's an outdoor place around he speaks highly of that's right on the beachfront that I'd like to try out."

"Gladly," said Carly and the three made their way down the street towards it. After a few minutes of searching they finally found the place and sat down and placed their orders and waited for it to arrive.

"I heard that raptor killed almost the entire pack inside the pen," Carly revealed as she sipped on her drink.

"Yeah and Muldoon's not happy about it either," Henry said. "Gennaro's doing everything he can to make sure he doesn't say anything out of line for tomorrow's part of the inquiry."

Silence descended on the group as each contemplated what had happened. Carly was the chief scientist who had bred the alpha raptor that had caused so many headaches and that was why she had been brought in as a potential witness but never took the stand.

"Carly, I just want you to know that you shouldn't feel responsible for what happened," Jake said, reluctantly as counseling was not his strong point. "That dino was the only one responsible for its own actions."

"Yeah, I know, it's just…I'm glad they can't breed that's all I have to say," she responded with as Henry and Jake nodded their heads. Their food was thankfully brought to them at that point to distract them from their thoughts until a new arrival changed all that.

"Oh great," said Jake throwing down his burger in disgust. "Gutierrez, that's just what we need after all this."

Dr. Martin 'Marty' Gutierrez was a resident of San Jose and although Jake and Henry had never conclusively been able to discover what his day job was, he seemed extremely fascinated with unusual forms of animal life. Thanks to the rumor mill as inspired by an incident at a Mestizo village a couple years back, he had become extremely fixated on the work InGen was purportedly performing on Isla's Indigo, Sorna and Nublar. However, he had never been able to conclusively prove anything.

Not that that stopped him from bothering every InGen scientist who made their way to the mainland in order to find out. Henry and Jake were his particular favorites as they ran Nublar and Sorna's research teams respectively and he knew it.

"Dr. Wu, Dr. Whitacre, it's so great to see you after such so long. What brings you out to San Jose after all this time?" he asked jovially and then pulled up a chair even though he hadn't been invited to sit down.

"Oh the same things all tourists are here for, the sand, the surf, and everything in between," said Jake putting on an exaggerated air of pleasure. Jake often chose to handle their conversations with the man since Henry wanted nothing to do with him.

"I'll bet," said Marty nodding his head amicably and then pulling out a tape recorder and setting it on the table. "But I suppose a certain trial concerning negligence back on Nublar wouldn't have anything to do with it?"

"I suppose it would if I had any idea what you were talking about," said Jake dismissively. "You want information on any trials, go to the court house."

"I would, but the Costa Rican government seems intent on blocking me access to those records just like they did on that Mestizo incident," Marty answered as a shadow crossed over Henry and Jake's faces at the mention of that but said nothing in response. "That's why I thought I'd get access to a first hand source in the form of you two."

"Aren't you ignoring our third party member?" asked Henry finally saying something as Carly's face briefly blanched out before she scowled.

"Hey, I'm just a beach babe you guys picked up. I don't know nothing bout no trial, and my services are only paid up until three so you'd better make the most of your last few minutes," she stated. Now Jake's face turned red as Henry and Carly privately chuckled at her statement.

"I'll bet it is Dr. Carlson," said Marty pointedly to which Carly leaned back in her seat and growled at him. "Well Dr. Whitacre do you have anything to say about the rumors that a dinosaur was responsible for this past incident on Nublar as well as the incident at the village a couple years back?"

"Who are you working for?" Jake responded crossing his arms. "It's not Dr. Levine is it? If it is, he's clearly not paying you enough to keep hounding us every waking moment to find the answer to a question that's too ridiculous to believe."

"Are you creating dinosaurs on Isla Nublar?" Marty repeated firmly. Jake sighed.

"Let's try a new question, why do you think that we're making dinosaurs?" asked Carly curious. Marty leaned back in his chair now and crossed his hands in front of his face.

"As I mentioned earlier, because of ruined photos salvaged from the Mestizo village showing what looks like a bipedal beast bearing an uncanny resemblance to a velociraptor for one," the man pointed out as he fished in his briefcase and pulled out the glossy photos that had reconstructed black and white images on them of what looked like a dinosaur standing amidst burning huts in the middle of the jungle. Carly looked through them as Jake and Henry glared malevolently at Marty for again bringing it up.

"You two were the scientists who found this village under mysterious circumstances. Do you deny my conclusion?" Marty continued prodding angrily.

"I don't want to talk at all about what we found at that village. But simply put, I give you my personal assurance that a velociraptor did not kill those people," said Jake assuredly before declining Carly's offers to see the photos. "Now I believe you had other proof?"

Carly slid the photos back to Marty as he nodded his head. "Let's just say I have contacts with a rival firm of yours and they're a little more willing to divulge information than you are. And they say, unofficially of course, that you're developing dinosaurs and refusing to share that information with others."

"Then that's unofficially their problem," said Jake as the waitress brought their check and he quickly paid for it. "Goodbye Marty, best of luck on your wild goose chase."

The trio got up and started walking away when Gutierrez made one last remark.

"You want to continue denying what you're doing over there, fine! But even you have to realize the consequences if they ever got loose and headed for the mainland!" he shouted at them as the other patrons stared at him for his outburst. And then he produced a second tape recorder and hit the button on it as an animal growl was heard emanating from it. Jake paused briefly at that and then waved goodbye and the trio left him behind, fuming.

"Just out of curiosity, what were those photos about?" asked Carly as the trio hailed a cab and headed for the InGen field office. Jake sighed at that and stared out the window rather than respond as Henry nodded his head at his friend's reluctance to comment on the issue.

"A couple years back when Jurassic Park was even less on its feet than it is now, there was a power failure and three deinonychosaurs escaped their pen and fled into the ocean. We thought they were goners and then they turned up at that village. It wasn't pretty," Henry answered simply. Carly nodded her head in understanding as the taxi came to a halt at the InGen Building and they got out and headed for the helipad on top and into the waiting helicopter.

"Hey Gerry," said Jake as Henry and Carly acknowledged the chief veterinarian.

"And who's this lovely young lady beside you?" asked Carly with a smile.

Gerry Harding laughed at that as he looked at the sixteen year old girl sitting beside him.

"This is my youngest daughter Jessica," the veterinarian introduced. "Jess, these are some of my coworkers; Jake, Henry and Carly."

"Hi," said Jess with a small smile on her face.

"Tell me, Jess, has your father told you very much about the place you'll be visiting?" asked Carly curious.

"Sort of, he said it's like no place on earth," she responded. The three scientists grinned at that.

"That is the understatement of the year," Henry remarked. "But he's absolutely right; you're in for quite a surprise."

The helicopter took off and soon was headed over the ocean.

"Gerry, I almost hate to ask but did Martin pay you a visit?" asked Jake reluctantly. Gerry sighed.

"Yeah, he did. Needless to say I had no idea what he was talking about since I was away when the incident occurred and I'm only just returning now," remarked Harding. Jess perked up at that.

"Incident, what incident?" she asked, concerned.

"Nothing, it was just an accident involving a worker and a backhoe, nasty stuff," remarked Jake offhand as that was the story Gennaro wanted mentioned outside of the courtroom where the documents there were to be sealed. Although for anyone working on the trio of islands, it wasn't too difficult to figure out what _had_ happened. "I was just curious because it seems Richard is still interested in our little project and has found the perfect little toad to do all the fieldwork in finding out."

"Yeah, who is this Richard Levine?" asked Carly mystified.

"I know who he is, he's a paleontologist, he came and talked to my school," responded Jess.

"That's just half of it, he's a paleontologist _and_ he has too much time and money on his hands," Henry told her and then turned to face Carly. "Although in some ways his findings indirectly led to our work here on Nublar and Sorna, so perhaps his attention isn't unwarranted."

"Yeah, but he has no idea about that part of it. He just somehow figured out about A-1 and while he doesn't have conclusive proof, that doesn't mean he's about to give up," Jake complained and intentionally rolled his eyes. Harding shuddered briefly at the mention of A-1, the codename for the deinonychosaur that had gotten loose along with its two companions A-2 and A-3. He also had been part of the group that had been sent to go find the things in Costa Rica along with Henry, Jake, and Robert Muldoon and his recollection of the events that transpired wasn't any more favorable than theirs.

"What's going to happen then, when the park opens in September and the truth comes out?" asked Carly. Jake shrugged noncommittally and Henry did as well. Carly sighed and the helicopter continued on its way.

Later, Sorna: "Is this our stop?" asked Jess curious. Gerry shook his head as the helicopter touched down on top of the Site B administration building. Below they could see workers bustling about throughout the worker village.

"No, this is just another place on the way to Nublar, our final destination. Although I guess stretching a little bit wouldn't hurt," Harding figured. Jess already had her seatbelt undone was rushing down the steps before pausing briefly and looking up at them with a slightly embarrassed look on her face.

"Take a left at the first hallway and it's on your right!" called Carly after her knowingly. Jess gave her a grateful smile and soon was gone from sight and the others in the helicopter disembarked and stretched.

"What was that about?" asked Gerry yawning.

"Oh, it's just a little secret between us girls," responded the female scientist as she too headed down the stairs.

"Coming with us to the Park?" asked Harding to Jake. The scientist shook his head.

"Too busy here. We're in the final stages of wiping out the final batch of DX diseased dinosaurs and I need to verify we're in the clear," he stated. "What's going on with Nublar that needs your urgent attention?"

"One of the trykes is sick," Gerry admitted. Jake groaned at that.

"Again?" he complained. "You could almost set your calendar by every time one of them comes down with something."

"No arguments here, but I'm still trying to figure out why it's happening," responded the vet as the trio moved down the stairs while the chopper was being refueled.

"You ask Sarah for any advice?" chuckled Henry. Gerry shook his head in shame at the mention of his eldest daughter who was an animal behaviorist studying in Africa. Not that he was embarrassed by her, but the amount of explanations necessary to explain living dinosaurs to her would take longer than to explain what the actual problem was with them. Not to mention Hammond wanted everyone silent on their existence until the park opened.

"I'll figure it out eventually, although probably not by the time that tour Hammond has planned rolls through," he admitted as the group emerged from the stairs into the hustle and bustle of the administration building.

"Oh yeah, who is Hammond trying to con into taking it? How one tour with a handful of people is supposed to overcome investor concerns and insurance issues is beyond me," Henry remarked.

"Last I heard, Gennaro had hired Ian Malcolm and Hammond was looking into acquiring Drs. Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler into it," Harding reported.

"Well that might work," Jake figured, although making investment decisions wasn't any more his strong point either. "I'd be careful Henry because Malcolm'll probably give you an earful complaining about that chaos theory of his."

"You ever met him?" asked Henry curious. Jake shook his head.

"Only attended one of his lectures once, colossal waste of time," he complained dryly. "At any rate, good luck."

The three stood in the lobby in front of the mural depicting Jurassic Park waiting for Jess to return.

"I think you could still come with us to Nublar, I've only got some small stuff to do there before I take the Anne B. back here in a few days or so," Henry offered. Jake shook his head.

"I love Nublar and all, but I'd rather stay here and get some work down because things are likely to get crazy once Nublar takes off and I'd rather enjoy the downtime while I can," Jake responded. "Besides, I'm not going to take the heat off of you that Malcolm's sure to bring."

"Nuts," said Henry disappointed because of that last statement. Jake grinned at that as Jess rejoined them and looked at the mural perplexed.

"What's all this?" she asked, looking at the T-Rex image. Gerry gave a look to Jake and Henry to hopefully try and keep the secret until they reached Nublar.

"Oh, you know, trying to portray these islands as being lost worlds to the unknown and all that," Jake responded trying to sound innocent. "You ever see those old B-movies from the 50s and 60s about secret islands with dinosaurs on them? That's basically what that's an homage to."

"Oh, well okay," said Jess not entirely believing him but willing to put it off before looking at the doors to the outside before her expression turned to one of confusion. "Wait, did one of those trees just move?"

"Well look at the time, you'd better get back onboard the chopper to Nublar," said Jake checking his watch. "As Ray always says 'drop what you're doing and leave now'."

"That sounds like him alright," said Gerry as he herded his daughter towards the steps. "Bye Jake, see you in a few days."

"Have fun and Jess, be sure to tell me what you thought of Nublar," said Jake with a broad grin. Jess was a little weirded out by that but nodded her head as Gerry leaded her up the steps.

"See you soon Henry," said Jake as his friend nodded as he too left and soon the sounds of the chopper were heard fading into the distance. Jake grabbed a granola bar from his office and was headed down the steps of the administration building headed for the garage when his jaw dropped at what he saw.

"Sam Stone, what the heck are you doing?" he shouted at a loss as the head of operations was riding up to him…on a galimimus.

"Isn't this great?" said the man on the dinosaur. "Some of the guys thought it up and so the last time we were on the mainland we bought some saddles. It's just like riding a horse or an ostrich and it took almost no time to break them in!"

Jake couldn't event think of a response to that as two more workers came riding up on galimimuses as well.

"We're going to go check out those old Incan ruins at the center of the island. You can come along, we've got a fourth saddle," Sam offered. Jake immediately shook his head.

"I'll take my chances with four wheels," he responded. "Have fun."

"Hee-yah!" shouted Sam as he kicked his dinosaur into action and the trio trod off out of the compound leaving a dust trail behind.

"Was that what I think it was?" asked Carly as she walked down the steps

"I don't know," confessed Jake rubbing his chin thoughtfully before walking down the road.

"You headed for Embryonics Administration?" Carly asked as Jake nodded his head. "Mind if I tag along?"

"The more the merrier," Jake stated and then held out his hand and felt raindrops and looked up to see the gray clouds above and shook his head and then ran with Carly for the parking garage as it began pouring. A few moments later they checked out one of the gas powered Jeeps with the Jurassic Park logo emblazoned on the sides and headed off through the security doors and out of the compound.

"So Jake, what was that rival firm Gutierrez was talking about back at San Jose?" asked Carly to pass the time during the ride out.

"He was probably referring to Biosyn, a genetics firm similar to us and put simply they're bad news," the male scientist responded. "They have a habit for skirting the law and more importantly for cutting corners to try and make maximum profits for minimum amounts of work. They also have a habit of conveniently finding someone else to blame for their own mistakes, something one of their execs by the name of Lewis Dodgson is famous for accomplishing."

"But why are they interested in us?" asked Carly. Jake shrugged.

"Well if they caught wind of the Dinosaur Revivification Project, they probably figure Hammond plans on creating ways to sell dinosaurs to the general public in one form or the other and thereby corner the market," Jake figured as he pulled out a toothpick and began chewing on it to concentrate on the road and the deluge of water making visibility limited. "Not that Hammond has any plans for that, he intends on turning the name Jurassic Park into its own brand and sell mugs, t-shirts, etc., but they don't know that."

"And even if Biosyn wanted to get in on the dinosaur market, they couldn't because everything on these three islands is so isolated that it also prevents corporate espionage," Carly determined.

"Not that they haven't tried, but John pays us well and we're doing stuff no one has ever done before. The only person who might be swayed by Biosyn's efforts would be someone thinking they're underpaid and have an axe to grind against Hammond to try and risk getting away with it," Jake pointed out as he merged onto a new road as a truck rumbled past the other way with a series of cages containing assorted smaller dinosaurs.

"Can you think of anyone would might?" asked Carly, curious. Jake eyed her briefly before returning his attention to the road.

"Not very many and none of them could pull it off because of all the security measures in place. Well except Nedry, but…maybe I'm just thinking he might because he's managed to annoy almost the entire staff of all three islands at one point or another, and not because he even has any ideas to do so," Jake admitted. "Honestly, he's so egotistical I think he and Dodgson would butt heads too much to even get along to the point of undermining us. So just forget I said all of that. Jurassic Park will take off and InGen will be pulling in profits like you wouldn't believe from now unto eternity, I promise. All that matters now is that tour Hammond has planned going off without a hitch."

"I hear that," said Carly with a big smile as she looked out the window at a fence and saw a group of Stegosauruses on the other side illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning. And then Jake hit the brakes and the car slowed down.

"What's going-?" began Carly when she was what was on the road ahead of them and began laughing as Jake rolled down his window.

"Hey Sam, forget to bring an umbrella?" he shouted at the trio of drenched workers who were hunkered down under the ferns with their spooked rides tied to a nearby signpost.

"Shut up!"

Days later: "Hoo, she is a beauty all right," Jake admitted looking up at the ancient pyramid. "Okay, boys, put the sensor equipment directly on top."

The workers began dragging their supplies up the steps as Sam gave Jake an annoyed look.

"Don't you have any respect for the past?" Sam demanded.

"Not really," confessed Jake and then upon hearing a brachiosaur bellow. "On second thought…"

Sam shook his head in shame before looking at the workers who were struggling to the top.

"So what's this stuff supposed to do?" asked Jake, curious as he headed for the top as well.

"Several different things, from better Doppler service, to better motion tracking, better communications, you name it," Sam responded. "Plus once it's set up, with a little bit of work we should be able to directly interface with the computer systems on Nublar and Indigo."

"How exciting," said Jake dryly as after a few minutes of walking they reached the top. "Nice view, though. It looks like a real lost world out there."

Sam nodded his head in agreement, also a little breathless at the sight. Looking out at the jungle around them, they could catch a view of a good portion of the island and the occasional dinosaur as well. And then Jake produced a cardboard tube that he had carried all the way up the pyramid and opened the top and took out the banner inside and unfurled it before placing it over the top entrance to the pyramid.

INGEN: WE MAKE YOUR FUTURE.

And then he unraveled a second and hung it beneath it, which read:

WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH.

"I'm telling you, Sam, with Sorna on its feet and ready for full production plus the fact that we eliminated the last of the DX dinosaurs, it's nothing but smooth sailing from here," declared Jake happily. And then a gust overcame them as shadows crossed overhead and Sam, Jake and the maintenance crew looked up to see a group of free roaming pteranodons soar by before one landed on top of the upper entrance to the temple and roared loudly as dinosaurs across the island followed suit with their calls.

That night on Isla Nublar, the fences failed.


	2. The Jurassic Park Incident

Nighttime, Isla Sorna: It was storming like it always did outside as Jake Whitacre sat in his office eating some ramen noodles and laughing his head off as Henry explained his conversation with Ian Malcolm earlier that day on Nublar.

"The gall of that man," Henry complained. "I think with my Ph.D. in genetics and bioengineering that I would know more about dinosaurs breeding than he would."

"Ah, that theory is his meal ticket, he has to bring it up at every opportunity," said Jake. "Besides, it's not as if he had any particular proof of 'life finding a way'."

"True," Henry conceded as he looked at the television on the far wall that was showing a new episode of the X-Files but was constantly fuzzing with every lightning bolt. "Focus!"

He hit the TV once and was about to hit it again when Sam appeared in the doorway, a little concerned.

"Hey, Sam, what's up?" asked Jake. "I trust none of the fences have been wrecked by this storm?"

"No, although the dimetrodons are testing the fences again," the man complained. The dimetrodons were similar to the raptors and deinonychosaurs in their desire to escape their enclosure, the difference being the raptors and deinonychosaurs knew when to give up and they didn't. "But anyway, you know how we set up that communication stuff earlier today? Well we figured we'd try and synch up with the computers on Jurassic Park tonight, but it's the darndest thing, we can't seem to get a hold of Nublar."

Jake's expression narrowed at that. "Is nobody picking up?"

Sam shook his head. "No, we can't get through at all. Whenever we try and call them, the line is just…dead."

"Well is it a problem on our end; have you tried contacting Danielle on Indigo?" asked Henry curious. Danielle St. Ives was the one in charge of Isla Indigo, which was basically InGen's equivalent of customs for anything coming and leaving Sorna and Nublar. Once the park opened, it was intended to also be the equivalent of the front gates of a theme park as visitors would be thoroughly briefed on Jurassic Park before being sent over.

"Yeah and we can reach her no problem, but she can't reach Nublar either," Sam responded. "I was thinking about calling San Diego, but wanted to hear your advice first."

Sam Stone was technically in charge of the island, but informally he just managed the support personnel while Jake managed the scientists unless Henry was around and then he was in charge of the scientists.

"It's probably nothing," Jake figured. "They still are having automation problems over there, which is why Ray is there helping out and not here where he's assigned. Something probably broke down and they'll have it fixed once the storm passes."

"Yeah, when I was over there I think they were having issues of all types, like the lights on the tour vehicles being on," Henry said, amused. "Besides, SOP states that if contact is lost with any of the islands that we give them a grace period of 36 hours before raising the alarm."

"Well because of the tour, how about we give them until tomorrow afternoon and then we'll send a chopper or a boat if we haven't heard from them," Jake suggested. "Besides, we can't send anybody right now in this storm, the boat almost didn't make it here as I recall before heading for Indigo and then Costa Rica."

Sam nodded, a little more relieved. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. It is probably nothing. I guess I'm just jumping at ghosts."

Jake and Henry shot him a smile and then the operations manager left the room.

"It is nothing, right?" asked Henry a little concerned. Jake shrugged as he tried to figure out what he'd missed of the episode on the TV.

"Maybe, maybe not, but there's no point worrying about it until we know for sure," Jake figured. "Henry, we'll be fine. Trust me."

Henry nodded his head and took a bite of his sandwich as the two continued watching their show.

_On Nublar, a Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped its enclosure and descended on two unfortunate tour vehicles parked nearby._

Morning: Henry and Jake were sitting in the lobby of the administration building as Henry read through the reports on the DX virus that had gone rampant and finally been contained.

"Prions from eating the ground up sheep chuck, no wonder we couldn't figure out what was wrong," Henry mused aloud. Jake took a sip from his coffee and yawned loudly.

"Hey, we're many things but we're not veterinarians. I'm just glad Gerry still has connections at the San Diego Zoo who helped us out with this one," he confessed before a thought occurred to him. "Hey, where is Gerry, I thought he was coming back on the boat?"

Henry hadn't realized that fact until now. "Maybe he stayed behind or went on his way to Costa Rica with his daughter and will be back soon."

Jake nodded and then saw Sam walking past.

"Anything?" he asked of Nublar. Sam shook his head and Jake and Henry were both a little troubled by the continued silence from the island.

"Maybe we should-," began Henry when Jake shook his head.

"You know Hammond would get on our cases for being alarmists just like with the Do Not Ship List," Jake reminded him, trying to play it off. Henry sighed and agreed to let it go for now.

"Kevin's preparing the helicopter just in case," Sam informed them and then headed off.

"And I think I'll try and get some work done," said Jake, anxious to get his mind off of the things his imagination were telling him were happening on Nublar.

"I will too," said Henry closing the dossier and heading off with him to the small lab they had in the administration building.

_On Nublar, the main power was cut. The Velociraptors subsequently escaped into the jungle._

Sorna: Jake and Henry were in Sam's Office enjoying their lunches as Kevin, their chief pilot, was on the roof finishing the final checklist on the helicopter to take off for Nublar.

"Damned peculiar," said Sam looking at his one phone that was a direct line to Nublar.

"Well we'll know soon enough," answered Jake as he could hear the helicopter starting up on the roof. He then reached for his water and was gulping it down when the phone suddenly rang and he did a spit take. It was the phone to Jurassic Park and Sam lunged at it and picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked into it with trepidation. "Oh, Mr. Hammond it's great to hear from you, we were getting a little worried over here. What? Oh, yes, sure, absolutely. Kevin's on his way now. Okay, goodbye."

Sam hung up the phone and looked at the other two mystified before ringing the helipad.

"Kev, we got the call, get going," he said into it. A few moments later and the copter could be heard taking off.

"Well?" asked Henry and Jake after a few moments of silence.

"He just calmly asked for a helicopter be sent to Nublar, that was it," said the head of operations at a loss.

"Well that's not much to go on," voiced Henry aloud. Jake tapped his finger against the side of his head.

"The caller ID should have the number he called from so let's trace it," Jake told them as he reached for a binder on Sam's shelf and began flipping through it as Sam read off the number. Thankfully there weren't too many numbers currently listed under Nublar and soon the scientist found it and the color drained from his and the others faces as they looked at the descriptor which read: Emergency Bunker #3.

_On Nublar, a Velociraptor was flung into a skeleton as a Tyrannosaur reigned supreme while a helicopter departed leaving the island forever behind._

Sorna: Jake, Henry and some of the workers were standing around the helipad eagerly awaiting the arrival of the helicopter from Nublar. Despite their best intentions not to spill anything, rumors were somehow making their way around the island that something bad had happened on Jurassic Park over the weekend.

"Look, it doesn't matter how bad things were, as long as we have Sorna and Indigo, we'll be fine," Jake insisted to the workers who were looking at him expectantly. "Back when Jurassic Park was having problems, Hammond would always say: 'this is just a momentary setback, all major theme parks have delays'. He's right."

The workers didn't seem satisfied by this but the sound of a helicopter approaching diverted their attention as well as the workers in the village below and it became absolutely silent as the blue and silver helicopter soared over the village and made a quick loop before setting down in front of them. As the blades slowly came to a stop, Jake snapped his fingers and pointed and the medical team moved towards the helicopter as the door opened.

A few moments of talking and the team moved past Jake with Ian Malcolm strapped down having been severally mangled and unconscious from several morphine shots as Jake and Henry exchanged a silent look of trepidation. Next came Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler who led Tim and Alexis Murphy out and they looked confused at their new surroundings before Henry approached them and gave them instructions to head downstairs. They too looked shaken by their ordeal.

Then one final passenger emerged from the helicopter clad in white like he always was, the founder and CEO of InGen BioEngineering, John Hammond.

"Hi, John," said Jake walking up to him as Henry did as well. The CEO was completely frazzled and he nodded at their greeting Normally he was upbeat about any problems that might come along, but his currently haunted expression unsettled them both. Sam meanwhile had just arrived from finishing preparations with Dr. Roberta Carter, the resident MD at the Cretaceous Clinic and had rushed back to the helipad as fast as he could. Upon seeing Malcolm's state downstairs he'd rushed even faster and was now out of breath.

"I would rather talk about it later, I haven't slept in some time and so…," Hammond trailed off, sounding weaker by the minute.

"Of course, boss, of course," said Henry knowing that now was not the time to push him. He motioned to a couple of workers who came in and draped a blanket over him and quietly led him downstairs to be taken to the nearby lodge.

And then their eyes turned to Kevin who was taking off his headset having exited the cockpit as the blades finally came to a halt.

"What's going on, Kev, aren't you going back for the rest?" Jake asked. The pilot shook his head, a little shell shocked.

"There is no rest, that was it," he responded as the jaws dropped on Sam, Jake and Henry. "When I landed, all I found was one badly damaged JP jeep and the survivors that just got off. I asked if there was anyone else coming and was told to take off."

"My God…," said Sam stunned at the loss of their coworkers. "Did anyone say what happened?"

"I was too busy flying to shut off the microphone in the cabin, but even so there was nothing but silence the whole way back here," Kevin confessed, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I also didn't get a chance to fly over the island, so only the survivors could give us an idea what really happened. But I don't think we'll be getting it today."

The sun had nearly set on the horizon behind them and all three turned to look out at the yellow glow.

"You'd better call San Diego, tell Petey all we know," Jake advised Sam. The head of operations had a reluctant look at having to make that phone call to Peter Ludlow, the COO of InGen and Hammond's nephew, but he nodded his head. He was about to head downstairs when another thought entered his head.

"Do you think we should prep the DRTs?" Sam had to ask. The DRT was the acronym for the Dinosaur Recovery Team, which was the equivalent of a SWAT team specially trained to handle loose dinosaurs. They had been a special project Jake had initially come up with the idea for after the A-1 incident in case it ever happened again.

"I don't think they're equipped to retake a whole island," Jake pointed out.

"I was thinking more along the lines of recovering sensitive data over there," his friend reminded him. It was only at that point that Henry and Jake realized that Nublar was now completely devoid of InGen personnel.

"The embryos," said Henry with dread. "If Biosyn…"

"Hold on, we don't need baseless speculation about what happened over there, it could be as simple as something temporarily going haywire," Jake interjected. They all had a fairly good idea what had happened on that island, but the last thing he needed was pandemonium.

"The fences don't just fail!" Sam yelled. Jake exhaled a long breath to try and dispel some of the tension on the roof.

"We will ask the survivors questions when they have had some time to rest from their ordeal," Jake told him calmly. "But yes, tell the DRT team to be ready to move sometime tomorrow and have them familiarize themselves with the Visitors Center layout. Also, tell Timothy that either he or some other programmer is going to have to fly in with them to synch up the computers with Sorna. Henry, I think you and I will need to also go with them so we can get the embryos and whatever else that shouldn't be left unattended."

"Right," said Henry, glad to have a course of direction now as he headed downstairs to get the necessary equipment for tomorrow.

"Who should question the survivors?" asked Sam before he too went down to the building.

"I'm not a lawyer, but you could informally question them I suppose. Otherwise I'd imagine Ludlow will be racing down here with probably the entire staff of Cowan, Swain and Ross to litigate everybody," said Jake in reference to InGen's legal firm and Ludlow's tendency to throw lawsuits at anyone and everyone. "Well, if there's no other business, I'm going to bed."

Jake headed downstairs with Sam.

"How can you be so calm about this?" asked Sam, not sure if he was on the verge of hysteria yet over how the events on Jurassic Park were going to affect them all.

"Simple, you weren't under a deadline to create the dinosaurs in the first place, now those were stressful days," Jake remarked offhand and then shuddered accordingly.

Morning: Ludlow and his team of lawyers had descended on the island before the sun even rose up and had taken off with all the survivors without saying a word and so all that was left was to head for Nublar with the DRT team.

"I guess lawyers really do eat their own, I didn't see one of them shed a tear for Gennaro," Jake quipped sarcastically.

"That's a little rude," commented Henry loading up his equipment in the helicopter.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for," Jake agreed as he yawned and stretched. "I'm just not looking forward to whatever we're going to find over there."

Henry nodded as he finished securing his gear and got into the helicopter with Jake, Timothy Huston the current head programmer on Site B, and the DRT team consisting of five members in military fatigues with heavy weaponry and backpacks consisting of all sorts of odds and ends to help them survive against the dinosaurs.

"Kev, let's go!" said Jake into the microphone.

"Right, we're off," Kevin said from upfront as his copilot gave the thumbs up for a complete check and the helicopter took off. As soon as the copter was over the ocean, the leader of the DRT team stuck a chart of Jurassic Park and the Visitors Center on the side of the cabin.

"If I understand you correctly, this is just a simple grab and dash," the DRT Leader asked of Jake who nodded his head.

"We're basically going into an unknown situation completely blind and I'd rather not stay any longer than we have to. We just need to collect some embryos, eggs, and other equipment while Timothy syncs up the computers with Sorna," Jake decided. "And if we have time, try and figure out what happened over the past couple of days. Then if we're lucky try and figure out if Nublar is still salvageable, although if worse comes to worse we can do those things safely back on Sorna."

"About synching up the computers, is there any danger that whatever hit them might make its way to Sorna?" asked Henry concerned, provided that was what had happened. Timothy shook his head.

"I don't see how it could. I've done my best to extrapolate a number of scenarios based on the data you guys gave me and nearest as I can tell, whatever made the fences fail wasn't intended to be a permanent problem. If I had to guess, the fact that the phones came back on after being off for so long leads me to believe that they shut off the power and turned it back on to clear out whatever was causing the problems," Timothy deduced. Jake and Henry looked at him a little nervous.

"Isn't that incredibly dangerous?" he asked, having remembered the brief amount of training he and Henry had been given by Nedry and Ray on the automation on Nublar.

"I'm guessing they had no other options or else Hammond left Dennis and Ray no choice," Timothy figured. "But we'll know more once we get over there. I won't synch them up if I'm not convinced it's safe."

"Should we have brought Sheila along?" asked Henry. Sheila Matula was another programmer on Sorna who was third on the Site B totem pole below Ray who was at the top and then Timothy.

"I would have loved to, but she needs to be on Sorna to make sure their end of the synch goes as planned," Timothy answered and then sighed. "I wish Ray and Nedry had made it though. Sheila and I together might be able to match Ray's level of programming knowledge, but none of us could match Nedry when it came to the automated systems."

"We'll just have to make do," the DRT Leader answered as he snapped in a new cartridge of darts into his dartgun and then checked the charge on his taser as the rest of the DRT team did as well. "Once we land we'll take the jeep that brought the survivors to the helicopter and use it to head to the Visitors Center. Once we're done there we'll just have to play it by ear on what to do next besides evacuate."

The others nodded as the helicopter continued onwards towards the island, each wondering about what they'd find across the waters at Jurassic Park while the DRT team began reviewing their strategies for infiltrating the island.


	3. Return to Jurassic Park

Nublar: The helicopter came to a rest on the helipad as the DRT emerged and quickly fanned out to the secure the area. After giving the clear, Jake, Henry, and Timothy emerged and Jake walked over to the cockpit as the blades came to a halt and the noise died down.

"Jen, Kevin; stay for as long as you can but if it gets hairy here and you've got to go then go. We won't hold it against you and we'll just try and radio Sorna or Indigo and arrange an alternate means of getting off of here," said Jake. Kevin and Jan, the pilot and co-pilot respectively gave him a bittersweet thumbs up and Jake nodded his head and headed off to the damaged jeep nearby.

"What've you got?" asked Jake curious as he looked at the damage on the thing as the DRT Leader closed the hood.

"Cosmetic damage thankfully. Otherwise she should be good to go, she has enough gas to get us to the Visitors Center at least," the Leader answered. "Hop in."

The group squeezed into the back as Jake took the passenger's seat and produced a promotional tour map.

"I hope this tour map is accurate, I don't really remember what roads were built yet and which weren't," Jake reluctantly admitted. The DRT leader looked at him a little dismayed as the jeep drove through an opened gateway in the fence.

"You're telling me you have the most experience on this island but you don't know how to get around?" was the incredulous question.

"Hey don't blame me, I usually took the shuttle from the docks and the few times I did drive around, well…," Jake trailed off at that as Henry laughed.

"He got us lost," the other scientist answered. Timothy chuckled at that as the DRT team began to look more worried.

"That is a vicious lie, I got us exactly where I wanted to be," Jake responded huffily.

"I don't remember being chased by triceratops as having been our original destination," remarked Henry as the jeep passed a group of brachiosaurs out on the plains.

"I said I wanted to see the triceratops before we left the Visitors Center and it only happened once!" Jake shot back, partly admitting the truth. "Besides, you want to talk about lost; Hammond got us lost inside one of the electrical power sheds and he had the floor plan with him."

"That he did, that he did," Henry conceded. "But there's really only one road to the Center from the helipad that I can recall so we should be fine."

The jeep moved on.

Helipad: Kevin was looking through his binoculars down the one road that led to the helipad as Jennifer paced nervously behind him.

"Would you relax, no matter what comes up that road we'll have more than enough time to take off before it gets here," Kevin said trying to calm her down.

"Sorry, it's just why couldn't we have flown to the Visitors Center instead?" she complained lightly.

"Because we could have spooked the dinosaurs and potentially tipped off some of the more unruly ones to the team's location," Kevin explained. "The air route to the helipad was specifically chosen by InGen planners for the first reason I listed. Besides, this is easily the most strategic point on the whole island thanks to these canyon walls and the waterfall behind us. We'll be fine."

"Okay," said Jennifer not entirely convinced as she finally stopped moving and leaned against the helicopter fuselage. Behind them in the river the water began unexpectedly churning and bubbling.

San Diego, InGen Waterfront Complex: Peter Ludlow sat in his chair extremely stressed over the stories he had just gathered from the survivors of the Jurassic Park incident. He and his team of lawyers were trying to decide how to best threaten the survivors from a legal standpoint to never divulge their stories to the public or the press and it was during a brief recess that he found himself at his office when a knock was heard.

"Yes?" he asked as Daniel Ross, one of the partners of InGen's contracted legal firm stuck his head in.

"You're going to want to see this," he told him. Ludlow groaned heavily at whatever this new event was and popped a couple of aspirin before getting up. He followed Ross through a couple of hallways before emerging in the control room of the InGen Complex and a particular monitor.

"And what am I looking at?" he asked, too extremely tired to care. On the screen was an image of some stairs with pools of water on each side and below the stairs was a roadway with a metal track on it and a yellow and green explorer on one side.

"This is a remote feed to Island Nublar currently showing the front of the Visitors Center and why it's important is about to become clear," Ross told him in his ever cold voice. As Ludlow continued to watch disinterested, his eyes slowly widened as a red striped jeep came to a halt in front of the explorer and he saw Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, and some other workers hop out and begin looking around.

Ludlow's ensuing shout was heard throughout almost the entire complex.

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING ON THAT ISLAND?"

Nublar, Visitors Center: "See, I told you we'd make it," said Jake triumphantly as he stretched from the long ride.

"Well we all get lucky sometimes," Henry quipped as he began unloading his gear. He too looked around at the location he'd only been a couple days prior and from his perspective it looked almost the entire same. Save for the tour vehicle now facing them.

"That's strange Hammond would only send one vehicle for the guided tour, that must've been cramped," Jake remarked offhand. "They even left the passenger and driver's side doors open."

Jake walked up to the vehicle and noticed the grass stains on the sides of the two doors as if they had encountered numerous pieces of foliage on the way back.

"I don't think we should really be touching anything, Ludlow may want a full investigation performed on this island," Henry remarked. Jake was about to close the doors but halted his actions at that statement.

"Fine," he conceded and left the vehicle the way it was. "Although I doubt one tour vehicle with its doors open is going to blow this case wide open."

One of the DRT members produced a camera and began snapping photos of everything important as the team walked up the steps.

San Diego: "They're going to contaminate the investigation," Ross warned as they watched the team pass underneath the camera and out of range while the worker at the station tried to find an alternate camera inside the complex to further view their actions. The new image showed the team in the lobby covering their noises and gathering around the dead raptors corpses while also noting the destroyed skeletons and the fallen banner.

"Jake always was a meddler," Ludlow agreed, annoyed as the other lawyers filtered in upon hearing what was going on. "I just can't figure out why he's there in the first place."

"Perhaps he was another saboteur?" asked one of the other lawyers.

"As much as I wish that were the case, if both of our chief scientists were collaborating with whoever Nedry was, I doubt his actions would've been necessary in the first place," Ludlow said dismissively. He was slowly calming down from his earlier outburst, but still somewhat irate that Jake, Henry and the rest had arrived before any cleanup teams from InGen could potentially erase any unwanted evidence that might fuel future lawsuits. A new image showed the team outside a security door to the control room and then Jake was seen taking his keycard and swiping it and the team entered.

"Dial them and send it to my office," Ludlow ordered making his way back to his office. He was going to have a long talk with Jake Whitacre about his unauthorized actions.

Nublar Control Room: Jake whistled loudly looking at the destroyed glass window and out at the stadium seating.

"I can only imagine what did this," he remarked. "Although I'd guess it was from one or both of those dead raptors out in the main lobby."

"You'd get no argument from me," the DRT Leader commented. Jake then walked underneath a broken ceiling tile that had fallen from up above and then looked at the knocked over stepladder and the rifle with three shell casings nearby.

"But maybe the window could've been shot out and then the gun discarded," Jake amended seeing as he couldn't find any bullet holes anywhere.

"No, I don't believe three shells could collapse the whole window. Besides that, look at the way these keyboards are crushed or strewn aside. I'd say there was a raptor outside the window, somebody shot at it and then it came through the window and landed on the desk here," the Leader pointed out. The other team member from earlier continued snapping photos as the others took up defensive positions around the room while Timothy began working at Nedry's terminal.

"Not a dilo?" asked Jake a little nervously. The Leader shook their head.

"No evidence of venom globs," was the response as the Leader went to consult with his team as Jake made his way over to Henry and Timothy.

"Anything?" he asked, hopeful. Timothy shook his head.

"They reset the system so I have no idea what happened," he said apologetically. "But judging from all the junk on the floor, I'd say Ray was sitting here and shoved it all off the desk."

Jake peered over the side of the desk and noticed the mess.

"Well then where was Nedry while that was happening?" asked Jake confused. "Do you think he was at the vending machines when the raptors broke in?"

"We can't find any trace of him on the security cams in the complex, it's like he just disappeared," Timothy responded perplexed. And then the phone started ringing startling everyone. Jake looked at Timothy asking a silent question of anyone still being alive on the island after all of this, but the technician did a quick search of the phone logs and found where it was coming from and told him.

"Bob's fish shack, you kill 'em I grill 'em, how can I help you?" asked Jake into the phone as Henry and Timothy chuckled at that.

"I'm only going to ask this once, what are you doing on that island?" demanded Ludlow in a menacing voice.

"Oh you know, I heard the park was open and that the tour was unfortunately to die for so I thought I'd stop by and see for myself," Jake responded mockingly. He could almost feel the heat radiating from Peter through the phone.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what really happened here?" Jake asked further.

"The official report will come out when it is ready and not a moment before," was the non-response he got. "But it will need an uncontaminated site to be completely accurate."

"Well I think I can take a broad guess as to what happened," Jake interjected. "Someone sabotaged the system, the fences failed, the dinosaurs got loose, people died, and the system was reset so they'd be able to escape. Am I right?"

"I cannot confirm nor deny-," began Ludlow when Jake visibly groaned.

"Well I can confirm this, goodbye Pete," said Jake as he prepared to put the phone back on the receiver.

"Don't you dare hang-…."

CLICK

"I bet he's thrown the phone by now," Jake responded almost immediately. The phone began ringing again and he subsequently unplugged it from the wall.

"Okay, now he's thrown the phone," Jake amended. "Timothy, I think Pete doesn't want us finding out what happened here and I doubt he'll ever tell us what did either so we are now forced to conduct our own investigation. Let's get what we came for and then get started."

"Right," Timothy responded affirmatively. "I'll do some digging on the computer and see if I can piece together anything useful after I've either given the go ahead or decided otherwise on the synch with Sorna. Unfortunately, with the power shutoff, I doubt I'll find anything concrete as to why the security systems failed. But we'll see."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see the security monitors of the compound to verify we do not have any hostiles in the area," the Leader requested.

"Of course," Timothy responded as he got up and walked over to Ray's station and began setting it up to receive the feeds.

"In the meantime let's go Henry," said Jake as he picked up some of the equipment they had brought and headed for the security door.

"2, 3, go with them," ordered the Leader as the DRT members followed after them out the door.

"Look, when we get into the laboratory, don't touch anything," Henry requested. "Dr. Whitacre and I know what needs to be done and this place is supposed to be primarily a sterile area so the less contact you make with the equipment the better."

Henry flashed his card to the scanner and the door opened and then the group entered into the airlock. They were immediately sprayed with a combination of water and air from a few sprayers for decontamination and then they entered into the lab proper. The two scientists then worked their way to a nearby table and placed their steel cases on it and popped them open and slapped on some facemasks and plastic gloves.

"Well at least this place still looks like it should," Henry commented looking around at the emptiness of the place.

"It just doesn't make any sense, though. By my count the only InGen personnel that were left after the boat took off were John, Ray, Robert, and Dennis...and maybe Gerry. But that makes no sense that they would only leave four or five people on staff, especially during an important tour," said Jake shaking his head as he brought another case with him to the egg chambers. "Something's not right about that and I can't figure out what it is."

"I'm just as mystified as you are old friend," Henry agreed. "I've been thinking about it too and everyone I've spoken to was told by the administration at some point that they were to be on that boat. From the scientists to the day laborers, I just can't imagine why."

"I don't think we'll want to know when we finally find out," Jake commented ruefully as they began checking the eggs that had remained behind. Thankfully none of them had hatched in the prior day or so and now the scientists were checking to make sure the fetuses inside were still intact after all the craziness. Some unfortunately weren't and the eggs were then separated to either be returned to Sorna or put in the incinerator. Once the eggs were divided, Jake dumped the bad eggs into the fire chute as Henry packed up the good ones into a case that acted as an egg warmer.

"None of those eggs seemed missing to you, did they?" Jake asked as he finished his work.

"Hey, it's Indigo's job to make sure people aren't taking dinosaurs home as pets, not me," Henry joked. "You know, I've really got to hand it to Hammond when he led that tour. Remember how he specifically wanted an egg to hatch when he led the group through here? I remember we had to tediously scan through hundreds of eggs to see which would roughly hatch that weekend."

"Did it work?" Jake asked, curious. Henry nodded his head.

"It did and I couldn't believe it. I had to stay nearby and just ignore the egg that was constantly shaking in the hope that someone on the tour would. They did notice and their joy over the whole process made them never question the fact that the possibility of such an event happening at that point in time was a statistical unlikelihood. But Hammond sold it like no other and like I said, they bought it hook, line and sinker."

Jake nodded his head, amused. "Did Hammond give that whole 'I've been present for the birth of every living creature on this island' schpiel like he did when he forced us to take that mock tour with him?"

"Ha, ha, yes he did," Henry laughed. The dry run tour had been particularly memorable because one of the other scientists on the tour had decided to show off his juggling abilities with the fake eggs that had been present on the incubator table. The resulting fast motion caused the egg turning arm to go haywire and it began throwing off sparks as it began spinning around rapidly like a helicopter trying to take off.

"You know, I've got to hand it to Lori," said Jake in reference to Lori Ruso who was in charge of production back on Sorna. "How she managed to condense the entire cloning and birthing process that we have on Sorna that requires entire buildings into basically this one room here on Nublar while still maintaining a reasonable success rate for a dinosaur to actually be born is beyond me."

"She knows her stuff," Henry agreed, also amazed at her comprehensive and unique understanding of the Dinosaur Revivification Process that dwarfed anyone else's. "Even the most hardened skeptic who came to this island would have a hard time convincing others that we were primarily making the dinosaurs elsewhere. Even the embryos are real."

"And speaking of…," began Jake as he tipped his head towards the embryo chamber above them.

"Right," Henry agreed as he grabbed another case and the two walked up the steps to the embryo freezing chamber. Jake swiped his card and the duo entered into the chamber and then closed the door behind them.

"I'd forgotten how cold it is in here," Jake remarked as he shivered. Henry groaned.

"Do you always have to make that joke? It's not that cold in here, only the freezing chambers that house the embryos are below freezing," he commented before lifting the two chamber cylinders up. Jake meanwhile walked over to the security camera and tapped it a couple times before walking over to check on the liquid nitrogen tanks.

"Hey, Jake, you'd better take a look at this," said Henry from behind him. The scientist turned around and walked over to the chambers as Henry pointed at the embryo slots and how one entire row from each chamber was missing. Outside, the DRT members couldn't hear a word Jake said because the chamber was soundproof, but from his body language it was clear he wasn't pleased with what he saw.

San Diego: "Blast," said Ludlow as they watched Jake ranting while Henry had a similar angered expression on his face at the missing embryos. "It is as we suspected, Nedry absconded with InGen property while the security systems were down."

"The next question being did he manage to get them off the island," Ross responded.

"Well he was not on the boat, I know that much," Ludlow answered. Their investigation was still in the preliminary stages but they'd done as much as they could from currently interrogating the survivors to investigating what records they had on file. "Although he could have handed it off to a third party on the boat instead, that remains to be seen."

"Then we had better get that investigation team over there as soon as possible," Ross told him. "Every minute that passes makes the truth that much harder to determine."

"I'm working on it, but it is not that simple what with the specimens running loose and not being able to guarantee the team's safety," Ludlow told Ross. "But I'll get it done as quickly as possible. In the meantime…"

Nublar: "Nedry you stupid fool!" shouted Jake irate. "You betrayed us all for what, one and a half million?"

"If all those embryos were viable that he made off with then they would've been worth at least two million," Henry answered. "And that's a conservative estimate because they're probably worth considerably more since we're talking fifteen species' embryos being housed here."

"Oh if he's not dead already, I'll kill him myself," Jake stated ruefully. Henry nodded his head as he produced a small handheld freezer unit and began loading up the remaining capsules before tossing a second to Jake who began removing them from the second unit.

"I hate to say this, but Ray could just as easily…," Henry began and then stopped when Jake shot him a look. "I'm just trying to be objective as a scientist. Remember we haven't found his body either."

His friend let out a deep breath he'd been holding in. "No, you're right. I shouldn't blame Nedry without proof."

The two finished loading the embryo capsules and exited the storage room closing the door behind them.

"I'll need to check the embryos for viability," Henry told Jake heading over for a scanning station.

"Yeah and I need to head for kitchen. Alejandro said that if I bring him back his favorite apron he'll actually make a hamburger for me," said Jake salivating at that prospect. Henry laughed hysterically at that seeing as Jake and Alejandro had been at war with each other over Jake's mundane orders and Alejandro's background as a gourmet chef who felt such things were beneath him.

"I'll want one too," his friend called out to him and Jake gave him a light salute as he prepared to leave the room.

"I don't think we should split up," said DRT Two. Jake waved off that concern.

"Either come or don't, but I'm getting that apron," he responded and was gone from sight. Two sighed and chased after him as Jake emerged into the main lobby and crossed the assortment of dinosaur bones littering the floor and went straight into the dining area headed for the kitchen.

Unnoticed behind him, the bones slowly began shifting rhythmically as if some unseen pounding from far away was causing them to move.

Helipad: "Hey, Kev?" asked Jennifer. Kevin was still staring through the binoculars down the road.

"Yes," he asked annoyed at her constant fretting.

"They didn't clone any water dinosaurs did they?" she asked. Kevin groaned inwardly at her jumping at shadows.

"Yes, I know there's some on Sorna, but why do you ask?" the pilot inquired.

"Because I don't think water churns this normally from just a waterfall," Jennifer commented concerned. Kevin's blood turned cold.

"Oh, no," he said not willing to believe it as an ichthyosaur came hurtling out of the water and collapsed next to the helicopter. Jennifer and Kevin were about to run when they noticed the animal was barely moving and had cuts and tears all along it as it bled all over the helipad.

"What could have done this?" asked Jennifer looking over the thing with a bit of sympathy for the creature.

"I think we're about to find out," said Kevin pulling her away from the thing as a giant croc from the prehistoric era erupted from the water and landed on the helipad on top of the ichthyosaur before roaring triumphantly over its catch. And then it noticed the two humans standing nearby and charged in for the kill.

Nublar: "I wonder what caused this?" asked Jake to the DRT member as he looked at the door to the freezer that had been completely knocked off of its hinges.

"Probably whatever wrecked the kitchen," the DRT member commented looking at the pots and pans all over the place. "From the looks of things it was walking along the top of one of the counters here and then ran across the kitchen where it impacted with the far side."

"And then ran into the freezer on the opposite end of the room?" asked Jake doubtful as he examined the destroyed locking mechanism. "I'd say there were two raptors and one got locked in the freezer and escaped the hard way. Whether that means it's now one of the two out dead in the lobby or is our third raptor that is still unaccounted for, I don't know."

"And I'd rather not find out, so can we go now?" the member asked, hefting their weapon. Jake finished folding the apron and put it in his backpack.

"Yeah, let's move," he agreed, also wanting to regroup with the others.

THOOOMMM

And then the whole room shook throwing pots and pans everywhere.

"What the-?" began Jake.

THOOOMMM

"I think we'd better go," said the DRT member herding Jake out the door and into the dining area as another loud thud was heard and it caused the chairs and tables in the room to jump.

"Wait, don't go out into the lobby!" came a voice over the radio as it crackled to life just at the moment Jake and the member spilled out into the central area and found themselves confronted by a Tyrannosaurus Rex that was gnawing on one of the dinosaur bones.

"Well ladies and gentlemen let it never be said that Jurassic Park is not full of surprises," said Jake in a mock impersonation of an announcer. He was being flippant to avoid going into shock. "How do I know? It's because we spared no expense!"

The T-Rex opened its mouth and roared as the bone fell from its mouth and came straight at them.


	4. Investigations and Escape

Visitors Center: Jake and DRT 2 ran back into the dining area as the T-Rex slammed against the entrance nearly knocking the door frame off and shaking the whole area.

"Been a…been a…been a long time since I've had to run from a Rex," Jake wheezed as he was out of breath.

"W…what?" asked the DRT member also a little winded.

"When the Rexes were growing up in Kenya at our little research station and we got bored, we used to race alongside them to see who'd win," Jake responded and began laughing despite still being out of breath. "Memories."

The DRT member nodded their head and stood up as the adjoining wall to the lobby shook again even harder.

"It can't get in can it?" asked the DRT member concerned. Jake looked at the member oddly.

"You're supposed to be the expert on dinosaur capabilities," he ribbed and straightened up as well. "But I think we're fine. That Rex would need more room to maneuver to break the wall down. Not that I suggest waiting around, though."

"I agree. Team Leader?" asked the member into their radio.

"Are you alright?" asked the Leader concerned.

"We're hanging in there but I think this building may no longer be strategically sound," the DRT member figured.

"I agree, I think we should beat a strategic retreat back to the helipad," the Leader suggested.

"But we can't leave now!" Jake protested. "If we don't find out who took the embryos today, then Peter will never tell us down the road."

"I have to agree," chimed in Henry. "But we can't stay here and just wait for the Rex to just leave."

"Well we could always head for the lodge," Timothy figured. "I've been running through the security cameras and it seems to be still intact with its electrified fences."

"Good, but is there anything you still need to do with the computers?" asked Henry. That was the main reason why they had come to the island in the first place.

"Not anymore. The system's clean so I synched with Indigo first and it went fine and then synched with Sorna so that's all done. If we need anything more I can just take a remote terminal and plug in at the lodge," Timothy told him.

"Rock on. We'll head out the patio and just make a run for it and if you guys escape out the emergency exit and get in the jeep and take off, that Rex will be none the wiser by the time we hit the lodge," Jake stated. "Let's go and we'll see you there."

"Roger, just don't get lost," the DRT Leader added mischievously as the two ran out the glass door and into the jungle behind them.

San Diego: "Where do you think they're headed?" asked Ross.

"At this point I no longer care," said Ludlow, although he was still steamed at Jake hanging up on him. "But I have begun compiling a list of all suspects and persons of importance across InGen and I'll need your help setting up a schedule to start interviewing them all. And we'll start with Henry Wu and Jake Whitacre."

Ross nodded his head in approval as the two left back to Ludlow's office.

The Lodge: The group was huddled around the main lobby as Timothy worked on his portable terminal with Jake and Henry on both sides of him on the couch.

"Yeah, I just don't see any evidence of breeding, Henry," Jake remarked as they read the motion tracker results. "You can see the numbers, not one species is higher than its assigned value. It's the same back home."

He sipped some two day old coffee and cringed briefly before drinking some more.

"I know, but something just isn't adding up but I'm not sure what it is," Henry said with certainty as he scratched his head confused. "I'll have to keep analyzing this data back on Sorna to make any headway with it. Any luck finding Nedry or Ray?"

"Nope," said Timothy. "The motion trackers aren't designed to locate humans and the camera system out in the jungle wasn't up to spec anyway to peer down every road."

"So we'll have to actually go down the road to the docks to try and find proof?" asked Jake as Timothy nodded his head. Jake sighed heavily and dropped his face into his hands.

"I'm highly against that idea since we don't know how many dinosaurs escaped their pens into the jungle," the Leader stated, although everyone was thinking the same thing.

"I know, but I can't stop myself from needing to find out," said Jake as if possessed. "But I won't drag you into this because it's not worth our lives."

"No, but there may be an alternate solution," Timothy concluded as he lay back in the couch. "That tour vehicle could come here and take us pretty close to the helipad. As long as you don't waste too much time, you should be able to gas up the jeep go down the road from the Visitors Center to the dock and back and still catch up with us."

"Right, that's exactly what we'll do," responded Jake still a little nervous and surprised at his own gung ho attitude towards venturing into a park with loose dinosaurs. "Anyone wants to come they're more than welcome otherwise I'll see you later."

He headed for the gift shop and grabbed a Jurassic Park hooded sweatshirt and some sunglasses and walked back into the lobby.

"What're those for?" asked Timothy curious.

"The road to the dock snakes past dilo country," Henry responded knowingly as a chill fell over the room. "I'd also wager that if Nedry or Ray didn't make it to their rendezvous at the dock, that they were the ones responsible for that."

"Yeah, so maybe it's better I do go alone, even if it is in a vehicle with no top," Jake agreed. "I'll catch you guys later."

He was about to leave when DRT 2 spoke up.

"No, I'll go with him, he is still my responsibility after all," the member spoke up as they hefted their weapon.

"Great, let's go," said Jake anxious to get moving and then the two left the building.

"Timothy, get that tour vehicle here so we can get to the helipad and get off this island," said Henry shivering as a dinosaur roar was heard in the distance. "This place doesn't seem as inviting as it used to be."

"I hear that," Timothy agreed as he started up the tour program on his terminal. "The car's on its way."

Outside the sound of the jeep engine was heard and it rumbled off into the distance.

"I hope Kevin and Jennifer are having a less eventful day than we are," Henry commented aloud.

Helipad: Kevin and Jennifer were holed up in a small shack just off the helipad as it buckled and shook from each blow by the beast outside.

"Why hasn't it given up by now?" complained Jennifer a little hysterical.

"I'm sure it will, just give it time," said Kevin reassuringly, although he wasn't happy about their situation either. He looked out the window and saw that the helicopter was still intact sitting next to the icthyosaur. He only hoped that when the animal outside left with its meal that it didn't damage the helicopter in the process.

"I'm beginning to hate this island and to think I was originally hired on to eventually ferry VIPs out here," Jennifer complained. Kev just said nothing but continued to try and prop up against the locked door to the outside.

Road: Jake held the destroyed road sign in his hands that usually pointed to the dock.

"Somebody doesn't know how to drive right," he stated bemused before he began spinning the little arrow back and forth. "You want this as a memento for your time here on Jurassic Park?"

"No," responded the DRT member having snapped a few photos of the scene and returned to the jeep. "Can we keep moving? We're on a schedule."

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't complain to me when everyone on Sorna asks why you didn't bring anything back for them," responded the scientist as he tossed the sign back on the ground and got back in and started off towards the dock.

"I never got your name," Jake said trying to make small talk after a few moments.

"I'm Sandra," DRT 2 responded. Jake nodded his head. He knew the DRT team was composed of both genders but not much else since he hadn't been responsible for their training.

"So why be a DRT?" he asked curious as he turned a bend in the road.

"I don't like being unprepared," was the only response he got. The scientist wasn't sure how to respond to that and so he pondered his next question when his eyes fell upon a curve that had a destroyed guardrail. Jake brought the vehicle to a halt and hopped out and looked over the edge of the drop.

"Got 'im," he said all business as he looked down at the jeep currently perched below. He slid down the embankment as Sandra called it in to the team onboard the Explorer. From the jungle, the duo was being watched by reptilian eyes.

Sorna: Sam Stone was sitting at his desk in the operations building reviewing requisition forms when Nicolette Stefrassa, the head of strategic planning on the island, walked in.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked. Sam nodded and pointed towards the seat on the other side of his desk.

"Tell me, how are things in the think tank?" he asked curious.

"As well as can be expected," she responded tentatively. "We're currently reassessing our land usage to try and map out where we'll be placing the new perimeter fencing to accommodate the new species we have been told are coming down the pipeline."

"I take it nothing else is concerning your department," Sam ventured knowingly.

"I don't follow," said Nicolette refusing to take the bait.

"Oh there just seems to be a rumor going around that Nublar has collapsed and the concerns about what the will mean for the rest of InGen," Sam began. Nicolette's eyes narrowed at him.

"I don't run my department on the basis of hearsay and rumors regarding hypothetical situations that may or may not come to pass," she stated coolly. Sam chuckled at her tone and held up his hands defensively.

"I'm not trying to make accusations," he said trying to diffuse the situation. "Actually, the reason I asked you in here is that I need you to run some hypothetical scenarios for me."

"Regarding?" asked Nicolette curious but also not liking where this conversation was going.

"If the power were to ever fail on this island, what would be the ensuing sequence of results assuming we did not immediately abandon Site B," he requested. "I realize this is not an easy task to accomplish which is why I'm not setting a timeframe for when I need this done, only that the sooner the better. I also want your department to run a SWOT analysis of our current security that we have in place. All of it from the fences to the door security and everything in between."

Nicolette didn't respond to that request right away as she instead decided to compose her thoughts.

"And what I am to tell my workers when they ask the rationale for running these tests?" she asked pointedly.

"That it never hurts to be prepared," was Sam's neutral response. Nicolette's jaw twitched at that as she did not like not being told the truth of what was really going on, but she crisply nodded her head and collected her things and left. As she left the room, Sam breathed out a collected sigh of relief that she hadn't tried to roadblock him for more information. He leaned back in his chair before spinning around and looking out the back window of his office over the treetops at the various dinosaurs he could see as he tried to calm his frayed nerves.

Nublar: Jake had a rag over his nose as he peered through the open doorway into the jeep as the stench proved to nearly be overwhelming as flies buzzed about the rotting corpse of Dennis Nedry still in his chair.

"Oh, that's nasty," he stated. "Not even he deserved this after all the times he annoyed the daylights out of me and the others."

"I think this closes the case on who took the embryos," Sandra remarked looking around. She saw the passenger side door had been wrenched loose and was down at the bottom of the embankment on the road below near a sign indicating the dock lay just ahead. She also noticed the winch was tied to a tree below but evidently the vehicle never moved as it was still hung up on a tree branch.

"I don't understand why he didn't use the four wheel drive," she remarked further. "That could've gotten him out of this situation much quicker."

"Nedry knew computers but vehicles evidently not so much," Jake told her. "I don't know who set the differential to the rear axel, but it's because of them that Nedry never made his rendezvous. Yet another mystery because the standard is four wheel drive, I don't know who'd set it to be different or why."

"Could've been him who set it, perhaps he felt more comfortable that way or else it was being fixed and there was a problem with the front axel," Sandra suggested but she began wanting to leave the area. Something about the jungle around them was becoming more and more unsettling with each passing moment.

"Yeah I guess there are a few plausible explanations for why it could be," Jake agreed looking at the road below and taking out his map. "He nearly made it too. The dock was only about a sixth of a mile from here."

"And I think its best we got as far away from it as possible. If I'm reading his tattered shirt correctly, that'd be dilophosaur venom and I don't intend on finding out if they've made this their new territory," Sandra told him.

"Yeah, just give me a minute to see if I can't find those missing embryos, he had to have put them in something small…," began Jake as he craned his body further into the jeep looking for any container he could find.

"I'm not giving you a choice," Sandra ordered as she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back out.

"Hey wait…," began Jake when…

HONK HONK HONK

The sounds of dilophosaurs suddenly honking quickly diverted their attention as they looked around nervously into the jungle for any sign of them but found none.

"Yeah, let's go," Jake agreed. Some things in life were more important than curiosity. The two scrambled up the embankment and leapt into the jeep as a glob of venom smacked into front of the vehicle. Sandra capped off a couple rounds from her rifle into the forest as Jake slammed the jeep into first gear. More globs of venom slammed against the car and their protective clothing.

"Take the wheel," ordered Jake as Sandra reached across and gripped it. The scientist quickly put down his hood and tied a bandanna to cover his mouth and then threw up his hood. He'd no sooner done so that a glob of venom smacked him hard on the back forcing him into the steering wheel. He hit the horn and it went off but Jake managed to avoid losing control of the vehicle and continued driving as the globules slowly stopped flying.

"Well I'd say we got off easy," said Jake trying to once again use humor to diffuse the tense situation. He felt fine and he figured Sandra was as well seeing as she was covered from head to toe in protective camouflage gear.

"Yes, we did, although there seems to be a glob of venom splattered all over the stick so you may have some trouble removing your gloved hand from it," his companion remarked. Jake noticed it and nodded his head as he turned back onto the road headed south towards the helipad.

"I can still shift gears so we'll pry it off once we get to the heli-,"

THUDDDD

The rear wheels lifted up briefly and then settled back down as something heavy landed on the hood.

"Oh that's just what we needed right now," said Jake irate at this turn of events. "Number Three."

The remaining velociraptor on Isla Nublar stood on the hood despite the fact that the car was traveling at more than thirty miles an hour and roared defiantly at the two in the vehicle.

Further down the road: The painted tour vehicle came to a halt at the end of the track and the team got out and collected their things and continued walking down the road to the helipad.

"You know this island is kind of beautiful in its own way," commented the DRT Leader as he looked down a crest of a hill to see brachiosaurs and parasaurolophus at a nearby lake.

"I remember when we went on scouting trips to try and find the right island and we all agreed this one looked the best," Henry agreed. "It had the greatest variation of terrain and foliage and the only problem was the occasional tropical storm. This place really would've been something if the Park had taken off."

"So you think it's all over for the Dinosaur Revivification Project?" asked the Leader. Henry shrugged lightly.

"I don't know. If word gets out about what happened here, it might dissuade future customers from coming in case this place is ever rebuilt. On the other hand, I guess we could take advantage of the amphitheater that Hammond nearly completed back home. But again if word got out about what happened here, it could raise concerns from city officials. We'll just have to wait and see. It took the dinosaurs sixty-five million years to walk the earth once again, I guess it'll take a little bit longer for the world at large to see them in person," he figured. "Life will find a way, I guess."

"Speaking of dinosaurs, I think that Rex is coming up the road," said DRT member 5 as they peered through their binoculars at a location behind them. The group checked their weapons and looked behind them but couldn't see anything except a small blob in the distance.

"Is it pursuing us?" asked the team leader walking up next to DRT 5.

"No, it doesn't look like it. It is just lazily walking down the road," the member commented.

"Are we upwind or downwind?" the leader asked next. Nearby, DRT 3 produced an anemometer designed to measure wind speed as well as a tiny weather vane and began reading the results.

"Negative on any current wind conditions, but I'd guess that that the winds would either come from the west or southwesterly direction," the member figured.

"Then how is it tracking us?" asked Timothy.

"It might not be," Henry suggested. "The herbivores were mainly centered on the southern end of the island. This could easily be a game trail for it."

"Should we run?" asked Timothy concerned.

"No, it might spot us that much easier and come running. We'll take it slow for now and keep walking like we have and see what happens. If we have to get in a firefight then so be it," said the Leader as he motioned his hand to keep moving and the group kept walking, although each tried to be less noisier than they had before.

Up the road: Jake slammed on the brakes and the raptor's claws dug into the hood and it ripped up some of the metal before being flung off.

"Give me your gun," Jake ordered and the member slapped it in his hands as Jake removed his hand from his stuck glove and undid his belt and got onto the hood and then off onto the ground and next to the fallen raptor. The animal was slowly regaining its bearings and was about to get back on its feet when Jake shot it a couple of times and it dropped down again, dead. The scientist hovered over it and then bent over and flipped it over.

"Damn it," he commented depressed. "I knew it was too small to be one of ours."

"What're you talking about, all the dinosaurs here are InGen and you said this was number three," Sandra commented, now standing alongside him.

"Not this one. There's no identification tattoo on either thigh," Jake remarked tapping the dead beast with his pen where it should've been on that particular leg. "All the raptors that reached adulthood were branded with one for legal reasons or something, I don't know. The point is that they had it and this one didn't. I thought it was number three because it was the last unseen raptor, but this one is a juvenile. Malcolm was right, they are breeding."

His head slumped down defeated as he then held his head in his hands as a thousand thoughts raced through his head.

"I can't accept that," Sandra stated. "There's always another explanation for these things. After all, don't forget that population control is an important security precaution that is constantly being overseen. I'd be willing to be that an egg hatched in the nursery and was simply unaccounted for at some point."

"But that doesn't explain why the motion trackers didn't register a fourth raptor on this island," Jake refusing to back down as he stood back up. But even he had to admit that Sandra had made a reasonable point in her last statement that needed further investigation. "I almost wish we could tag and bag this thing for further study but there's no time."

He got up and back into the jeep and started it up as Sandra hopped in. After unsuccessfully trying to dislodge the glove still stuck to the stick shift, Jake just placed his hand back in it and started shifting gears. After a few more moments of driving, he then moved out the front gate of Jurassic Park that had been left open because the lever was still locked in the 'manual' position and then headed south.

Further down the road: The team safely made it past the electrified fence that protected the area around the helipad and breathed a sigh of relief before closing the gates behind them for added protection.

"Should we keep going?" asked Timothy.

"Is the helicopter still there?" asked the Team Leader as the team tensed up, having forgotten that Kevin and Jennifer might have taken off.

"No, it's still there and the rotors aren't moving," said DRT 3. The team all breathed a loud sigh of relief at that.

"Can you see Jennifer or Kevin?" asked Henry.

"No, not at this distance," he said. "They're either in the copter or probably in the shed which I can't see."

"Then I don't see why we should go down there right now. We'll wait for Jake and Sandra," said the DRT Team leader stretching and taking a seat on a nearby rock as the rest of the team followed suit. The Leader then took out his radio and switched it on.

Back up the road: "So I tried to convince Dr. Wu that we should be freelance geneticists who cook things up on the fly for wealthy patrons once we completed our Ph.D.s. But then Hammond came immediately knocking on our door and out went that idea," said Jake trying to explain his life story to pass the time. Not that Sandra had asked to hear it. "Gosh, that must've been seven, eight years ago. We sure did a lot since then because it feels like a lot longer."

"And now you're only answerable to the board?" asked Sandra trying to sound interested.

"Well technically speaking we're subordinate to Doctor Gustavius Graves. But I haven't seen him in a good six months and before then only sporadically after Henry and I got a handle on the extraction and cloning process. I wonder what he's up to these days," Jake wondered aloud. That was probably a mystery for another day, but Henry suspected he was just at the Kenya facility. That location was technically a biological preserve for African animals but it was isolated enough for the initial dinosaur experiments before Sorna was up and running. Even to this day it still ran some dinosaur studies and experiments as it currently still housed a handful of herbivore species such as stegosaurus and protoceratops.

The dinosaur presence continued to fuel urban myths of a lost world unseen by most human eyes after some grainy photos had somehow surfaced of the stegos and styracosaurs travelling with a herd of elephants and giraffes. Security was considerably tightened after that, but the photos provided plenty of amusement for staff in the know.

"DRT 2 member report in," came the radio as it finally crackled to life.

"Yes, boss," said Sandra into it.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but if you're coming up the road there's a tyrannosaurus rex between us and you," said the Leader. Jake groaned and slowly brought the vehicle to a stop.

"Are you okay?" asked Sandra concerned.

"We're fine because we made it past the protective perimeter fence and we're now waiting for you," responded the Leader. Jake pulled up hard on his once more gloved hand and finally got the glove removed from the stick after much fighting and then got up and started rummaging around in the back of the jeep for something. He finally pulled a pair of binoculars out of a case covered in dilo venom and jogged up a small hill crest and got down on the ground and looked through them as Sandra got down beside him.

"Yeah, it's there," he confirmed as Sandra looked through her own pair. The animal was still just lazily walking down the road seemingly without a care in the world.

"How do we get past this?" asked Sandra curious. "We could set the jeep to go on its own but once the Rex tears it up or realizes it's a decoy then it'll quickly come after us."

Jake looked around as he weighed their options as well. It was open terrain which didn't afford many places to hide or sneak around. The Rex could reach full speed easily here and their weapons wouldn't do much to the thing before it got them first. He was going to wipe the sweat coming down his forehead due to all the heat when he had trouble lifting his hand and then noticed the dilophosaur goo was sticking the glove to the grass.

"Actually, using the jeep as a diversion may not be a bad idea," Jake figured looking back the jeep as an idea formed in his head.

"I don't follow," said Sandra confused. Jake showed her his venom covered glove.

"If the Rex goes after the jeep, I believe it will start chewing parts off of it thinking it is a live animal. But that jeep is covered with dilophosaur venom so…," he began as Sandra caught on.

"What do you think the effect will be of the ingested venom?" she asked.

"Well I don't know, but I think it's our best chance," Jake figured. "Ask the others."

Sandra relayed their situation.

"But are you okay?" asked Henry after hearing about dilo venom being all over the jeep.

"Yes, we're fine, but do you think it will work?" Jake needed to know.

"Beats me. Although considering what happened to that worker…," said Henry feeling sick to his stomach. The scientists ended up finding out the hard way about the dilophosaur and its venom sacks after a feeder ended up getting attacked though the fence from flying venom on Nublar. The doctors on staff had done their best to keep the man alive for as long as they could on Sorna and he was even carted out to a nearby villa with a clinic on Costa Rica, but it had ultimately been to no avail. The suffering the man had gone through during that time had resulted in Jake, Henry, and Gustavus creating a Do Not Ship List about dinosaurs they felt were too dangerous to be placed on Nublar, but the report had been summarily dismissed by Ludlow and Hammond. Hammond hadn't seen the suffering the man had gone through and Gennaro cooked up a story about an accident with workplace chemicals and a generous pay to the worker's family settled the whole thing.

"Yeah, just be glad you didn't also see what we saw earlier," commented Jake in reference to Nedry that he would explain later. "We'll chance it."

Jake and Sandra went back to the jeep and began setting it up.

"Man they got this thing better than I thought," Jake admitted as he looked at all the venom.

"They are fairly accurate with their attacks, which is why the best step in not falling prey to them is to simply avoid dilos at all cost," Sandra told him. Jake nodded his head and found the appropriate rock to place on the gas as Sandra tied up the wheel so the vehicle would stay on course.

"Here goes," she began as Jake hit the horn a couple of times and then dropped the weight. The jeep raced off away from them as the two tore off towards the fence running as fast as they could. As they ran over the nearest hill, they saw the Rex running after the jeep in the distance. The two kept running as the Rex slammed its head into the side of the jeep causing it to tip to one side but it keep moving. The two were about at the halfway point to the fence when the Rex succeeded in knocking the jeep over as it rolled over and over. The Rex subsequently took to repeatedly biting at the vehicle, but after a few moments it stopped and regarded it carefully.

Perhaps it triggered some memories of another potentially tasty treat it had encountered on a stormy night that had ended up tasting terrible. Or perhaps not, either way the animal lifted its head and began scanning the horizon and it finally spotted two dots moving across it. With an angry roar the animal gave pursuit.

Helipad: The rocking had finally stopped and Kevin looked out at the window where it saw the croc go back to its kill and dragged it into the waters below.

"Okay, it's done. Let's go," said Kevin as he forced open the door and both he and Jennifer emerged outside. They looked at the destruction to the shed and each counted themselves lucky that they'd survived such a vicious attack.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

And then a powerful wind washed over with them as a shadow was cast on them from an object in the sky that was swooping down towards them.

The road: Jake and Sandra were running as fast as they could while the T-Rex bore down on them from behind.

"At least we can see the fence," Jake said, trying to make light of the situation.

"Oy, I'm too winded to laugh right now," responded Sandra as the ground shook with every footfall of the great beast. "And I don't think I'll be making it through this either."

"Don't say that, we'll both survive this," Jake insisted before taking a glance behind him. "But okay…"

"WHAT?" shouted Sandra astounded that he was now being so flippant about her impending doom. And then Jake skidded to a halt and turned to defiantly face the Rex as Sandra stumbled to a halt behind him. "Now what're you doing?"

"Testing a theory," Jake began out of options. "C'mon, girl, I know you remember me! It was Henry Wu, Gustavius Graves, John Hammond, Donald Gennaro and I who were present at your birth. You were the first dinosaur we ever made and I know you imprinted on us! You just have to remember because I know you won't hurt me."

The Rex slowed down, confused at the prey's refusal to flee any further and it slowly advanced on him.

"I've got some tranquilizer darts, maybe…," she began. Jake shook his head.

"Unless you've got something to take her down immediately, you'd only make her mad," the scientist responded as he walked towards the beast.

"I'd say you're mad as well, but not in the same way," Sandra felt like saying. Jake laughed at that.

"We'll see," he said. He was now in front of the Rex as Sandra trained her gun on it. Jake held up his hand up to the Rex's face high above him as it leaned down until they were face to body.

"C'mon, girl, I know you know me," Jake pleaded. The Rex opened its mouth slightly and then closed it as it sniffed the air. In Jake's mind it seemed to him that it was beginning to regard him differently before it let out a small roar and then its eyes rolled up into its sockets and the dinosaur collapsed to the ground.

Jake sighed as he walked up to the dinosaur that was clearly in pain as he placed his hand on the side of the beast's head.

"I'm sorry," he told her sympathetically. He then gave a saddened smile and then took a step back and walked back down the road, depressed.

"Do you think she recognized you?" Sandra asked.

"I guess we'll never know now," the scientist responded glumly. "She doesn't deserve this, she's just being herself."

"I know," Sandra agreed. "But you saw all the devastation and destruction caused on this island in the period of only a few days. We can't afford to let that happen on Sorna."

"No, we can't," Jake agreed, but beyond that he had no further answers to their current dilemma. If the dinosaurs weren't going to Nublar anytime soon, then they'd have to stay on Sorna. But if some accident befell Site B like it did Jurassic Park, the consequences would be even more disastrous given how many dinosaurs and personnel existed on that island.

"Well, we're finally here," said Sandra cutting into his thoughts. They had reached the gate to the fence and walked through it but the DRT Team, Henry and Timothy were not present.

"Must've gone on ahead," Jake figured and they continued walking. But when they reached the helipad there was no helicopter to be seen.

"Odd," said Jake looking around. He noticed the trail of blood leading to the water, but there was no wreckage.

"Do you think they left us?" asked Sandra refusing to panic at the blood trail.

"We last contacted Henry and his team fifteen minutes ago. If the copter wasn't there at that time, I don't see why they'd have had us risk our only mode of transportation to run over here," Jake answered as he scratched his head. "I also don't see any shell casings either for there to have been a firefight. Weird."

"Death from above?" asked Sandra pointing up.

"I don't think the pterodactyls escaped," Jake said dismissively.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

"On the other hand…," he began as shadows fell over them and they were buffeted by high winds. From the skies, two Huey Helicopters dropped down hard on and near the landing pad while armed guards emerged from both and swarmed the two who raised their hands in surrender.

"Dr. Whitacre, you're to come with us," said one of the guards.

"May I ask where?" asked the scientist. "And what's to become of my companion?"

"You are to be flown to San Diego for questioning," one of the guards answered still pointing an M-16 towards him.

"Not without an official order because otherwise I'd rather take my chances here with the dinosaurs," Jake told them pointedly. The guards tensed as if uncertain what to do next when a new figure emerged from the Huey.

"Gentlemen, this isn't really necessary," said the new arrival with a jovial attitude. "Dr. Whitacre is a much respected member of InGen and he should be treated as such."

Jake shook his head lightly and gave a brief smirk. "Hey, Ed, what's new?"

InGen's primary publicist, Ed Regis, approached with a hand extended that Jake shook.

"Just keeping the peace as I always do," he remarked jovially before looking around. "You know, I was actually supposed to be part of the tour Hammond was hosting here, but I came down with stomach flu and couldn't make it."

"Too much of Alejandro's cooking I'd expect," Jake remarked, always willing to make a joke at the chef's expense. Regis laughed at that.

"Probably, but it's so good. Anyway, Ludlow needs to question you and Henry and he wasn't sure what situation we'd be finding here on Nublar so he sent in the troops," Regis further explained. Jake sighed.

"Alright, but what about Sandra?" asked Jake nodding his head at his companion.

"She'll take the second Huey back to Sorna where the rest of the DRT Team along with Timothy, Kevin and Jennifer are currently headed," Regis further explained and then led Jake to one of the Hueys as Sandra went into the other. Jake sat down next to Henry who had a bemused expression on his face as the guards filed back in with Regis and then both helicopters lifted off headed to their respective destinations.

"We'll be fine, huh?" Henry had to ask.

"Can it," Jake declared grumpily.


	5. Levine

Next day, InGen HQ, San Diego: Jake and Henry were sitting in a room set up to look like an interrogation room with a single table and an assortment of chairs around it. After they landed in San Diego late last night they had been set up with some accommodations for the night and gruffly been told to be back at HQ when it opened and if not, a non-specific threat was made. The two had arrived diligently and were led to this room where they'd been sitting for the past hour with no sign of anybody.

"I didn't think things were this bad," Henry commented, a little miffed. Jake shrugged as he leaned back in his chair and stretched.

"I highly doubt they are. Ludlow's probably jumping at shadows like he always does," the other scientist figured. "Remember when that oviraptor got loose back on Indigo while it was being transferred? He was practically foaming at the mouth looking for someone to blame when in reality it was just an accident that the gate didn't lock properly on its container. Some things never change."

"I suppose you're right," agreed Henry as he too began to relax. The door handle began to turn as he finished saying that. "Well Jake, as you always say 'don't give him the satisfaction'."

"You're absolutely right," said Jake with a smile as Ludlow and Ross walked in with a stack of papers. They walked over and sat down and he produced a tape recorder and set it on the table and pressed record.

"Gee, Pete, no coffee or donuts?" asked Jake with feigned dismay as Henry grinned at that. Ludlow didn't respond to that comment, he continued to put his paperwork on the desk before clearing his throat and looking straight at them with an icy stare.

"Unacceptable," he began saying. "You two and that team of yours is responsible for mass contamination of a crime scene that has major implications for the future of this company. You also disobeyed a direct order from me to leave that island. I have every right at the moment to fire both of you and have you brought up on charges for insubordination, gross negligence, and dereliction of duty. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Jake straightened back up and cracked his neck before leaning over and looking Ludlow in the eyes.

"I want to speak with Hammond," he requested simply and calmly.

"You don't get that luxury. I am effectively running InGen now and you are answerable to me, not him," stated Ludlow shooting his request down.

"Then I want to speak with a lawyer," said Henry chiming in.

"Partner Ross is a lawyer and you're speaking with him right now," said Ludlow again dismissively. Jake barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes at that.

"Then fire us and get this kangaroo court over with," said Jake effectively forcing his hand. "Because we both know you won't. We're far too valuable to this organization now more than ever and deep down you know we didn't do anything wrong."

Ludlow subsequently grinded his jaw so hard that the two scientists could easily hear it.

"This company is under attack from forces unknown and I will find who is responsible," he stated darkly.

"I don't understand," began Henry confused. "The only person responsible was Nedry and whomever he was working for. Nobody else."

"I'm not convinced of that," Ludlow declared. "I don't believe Nedry acted alone and I am also not convinced that whoever hired him won't attempt to reacquire more embryos in the future."

"A witch hunt, great," remarked Jake now rolling his eyes. "You're looking for things that aren't there again, Pete."

"I will be the judge of that. Right now I am compiling a list of likely suspects who could potentially betray this company's secrets to outside organizations," Ludlow began anew as he reached for his paperwork.

"Well let me stop you right there because if Jake and I were stealing embryos from this company, you'd never know about it," said Henry with a conspiratorial smile. Ludlow angrily brushed all of his paperwork off the table and it flew everywhere. The two scientists were unmoved by his little outburst.

"I don't think you're aware of what situation this company is currently in because of that little incident at the Park," Ludlow accused. "Even with no official word out, the investors are all looking to pull out of this project and our insurance company seems to be out for blood. So I don't need your garbage right now. I will do whatever is necessary to keep this company afloat during these turbulent times and if that means being the enemy then so be it."

Jake and Henry had no response to that. Ludlow was right, InGen was going to be in for some turbulent times ahead but neither felt that what he was planning on doing would make things better, only worse. But they weren't on the board so there wasn't much they could do about it.

"Tell me what you found on Nublar," Ludlow continued as if the prior outburst hadn't happened.

"We went to Jurassic Park to recover vital assets that shouldn't have been left unattended," Henry began. Jake had briefed him on his side of the story on the helicopter ride over. "We also wanted to figure out exactly what had happened and so we brought Timothy and the DRT Team along with us. What we found was a wrecked Visitors Center and stolen embryos. So we recovered what we could and Timothy, the DRT Team, and myself returned to the landing pad while Jake and a DRT member went into the jungle to try and find the missing embryos."

"Were you able to determine why Jurassic Park experienced its technical difficulties?" Ludlow asked next as he began scribbling down notes about their story.

"Not conclusively, but we did uncover enough evidence to develop a theory," Henry answered next.

"Which is?" asked Ludlow all ears. Jake and Henry exchanged a glance contemplating what Ludlow's responses would be.

"We believe Dennis Nedry attempted to steal the embryos and get them to the east dock and the awaiting Anne B.," Henry told him.

"And did he succeed?" asked Ludlow next, completely emotionless and without wasting a beat.

"I don't believe so," said Jake finally speaking up.

"And why not?" asked Ludlow.

"Because I found Nedry's jeep about a quarter mile from the docks lodged on a fallen tree, still apparently heading towards it," Jake answered. "Judging from the fact that a tow cable was wrapped around a tree and Nedry's rotting corpse was inside the jeep itself, I would further postulate that he did not walk to the dock to deliver his cargo."

"What do you believe killed him?" asked Ludlow.

"Dilophosaur," Jake said simply. Inwardly he wondered if Ludlow even knew anything about that dinosaur.

"And you're positive that it killed him?" asked Ludlow with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"What else could have? The signs were pretty distinct," Jake mentioned.

"He could have been killed beforehand by whomever he was supposed to deliver the embryos to," Ludlow suggested. Jake and Henry were amazed he even made that suggestion.

"That's a little far fetched don't you think?" Henry accused.

"You said it yourself, you failed to recover the missing embryos," the COO shot back. Jake shifted uncomfortably at that.

"Yes, but not from lack of trying," he responded. "We were set upon by dilophosaurs as well and were coated with venom from them. We couldn't stay to find the embryos. In fact we were fortunate just to survive the encounter."

"Just weighing all options pending a full investigation," he said dismissively as he reviewed his notes. "Was that all?"

"Yes," said Jake. He and Henry had chosen to remain quiet on the juvenile raptor until they could draw their own conclusions. "Do you mind if I ask a question?"

"I cannot guarantee a response," Ludlow warned him.

"After the boat left, why where there only four people left behind to man Nublar?" Jake demanded. "That's a clear violation of SOP and makes absolutely no sense from an operating standpoint with the guests outnumbering the workers. Yet everyone we interviewed said they received official orders to leave. Those orders evidently came from the top brass. So I want to know who issued them."

"Well I'm afraid that orders such as that are often marked confidential so I'm of no help to you there," Ludlow stated, avoiding the question.

"If I find out you're somehow responsible…," Jake warned.

"You'll do what?" asked Ludlow calling his bluff. "Do nothing? That's really the only option available to you."

Jake leaned back in his chair and stewed over that comment.

"So where do we go now?" asked Henry. "What becomes of InGen now that Jurassic Park's future is uncertain?"

"We have yet to decide such matters, but when we do, you'll know," Ludlow said cryptically.

"So then what now, do we just go back to our regular lives?" asked Jake curious.

"More or less," Ludlow began. "You will certainly be allowed to return to Sorna and continue your work but an onsite investigation will be conducted at some point."

Henry and Jake both groaned at that to Ludlow's pleasure.

"And who is going to be conducted said investigation?" Jake asked before adding obnoxiously. "Because of course any investigation needs to be impartial."

"Oh, I know," said Ludlow agreeing with him but not without a hint of sarcasm. "That's why I consider myself fortunate to have found someone whom is independent of InGen, but has a vested interest in our products and also cannot be bought off by the competition."

"Who?" asked Henry. Ludlow motioned to the doorway and a new arrival walked in with a broad grin on his face as Jake and Henry sat their stunned, utterly speechless.

"Oh, sh-," began Jake involuntarily as the man laughed.

"Gentlemen, I believe you know Dr. Richard Levine," said Ludlow with a menacing grin. Levine walked up and grabbed and shook both the scientists' hands.

"It's such a pleasure to finally be able to meet you two. You were avoiding Marty so much, I was beginning to think you didn't like me," said Levine feigning hurt. "Imagine my delight when InGen came knocking on my door to investigate the safety and security of your little project. I can't wait to begin!"

"Couldn't you have hired someone else?" Henry pleaded.

"Such as?" asked Ludlow curious and doubtful.

"George Baselton," Jake suggested. He was a professor at another university that Jake and Henry knew from their readings on T-Rex behavior. They also believed he was grossly incompetent, which meant they could more easily manipulate him into not bothering their work.

"I would, but we're using him to deny that Jurassic Park ever existed in the event that word leaks out and so he can't be allowed to see any dinosaurs," the COO told them. "Besides that, we think he has ties to Biosyn so he cannot be allowed anywhere near InGen classified assets."

"So as you see, I'm the perfect man for the job," said Levine smugly as he took crossed his arms.

"But don't you have to play with your dollies first?" asked Jake derisively. Levine refused to give him the satisfaction of a groan.

"Like I haven't heard that a million times before," he scoffed. He was the heir apparent to a very popular toy manufacturer that produced the Becky Doll series and they were all the rage. As such he was extremely rich.

"Those 'dollies' as you refer to them means that Dr. Levine cannot be bought off by companies such as Biosyn and can provide the impartiality we need," Ludlow responded curtly. Jake and Henry had to concede that point at least, despite their dislike for the man.

"But he's not qualified to lead an investigation," Henry said, which was completely true.

"That is why he's bringing his own team with him to assist in his assignment. First is Dr. Gutierrez whom I believe you're both already familiar with. His expertise will be primarily needed to determine if the dinosaurs are capable of escaping Sorna. Next up is Jack Thorne who is an expert on everything mechanical and he'll do a thorough check to make sure the island is up to code," Ludlow began as he produced some personnel files.

"Gee are you not going to bring those two middle school students of yours? I heard they were your new assistants after you got the University HR Department fed up with you and refused to send you any more secretaries," Jake laughed as Henry did the same.

"Yes I am bringing them," said Levine cutting into their humor. "And for the record, they're now college freshmen and both have full scholarships to continue working for me. So they'll be around for every other weekend."

"Well good for them," was Henry's truthful contribution on his and Jake's behalf. He didn't want any oversight over his work either, but the two teenagers weren't to be blamed for that.

"So when does this oversight begin?" asked Jake next. He needed to know how much time they had to make Site B a pristine model of efficiency.

"Oh, not until the end of the month," Ludlow told them. He too respected their silent need to make the island look better than it actually was. After all, Levine's report would be used as a basis for the future prospects of InGen. As long as Sorna was intact, there might still be hope the company could recover from what had happened on Nublar. After all, Jurassic Park Europe was in the beginning phases of construction and they still had the Jurassic Park amphitheatre only a few blocks away.

"Well if that's all, you're dismissed," Ludlow said next. "I look forward to reading your reports."

"And I look forward to writing it. Gentlemen," said Levine tipping his head and then arrogantly striding out of the room. Jake and Henry got up as well.

"This isn't over," Jake warned Ludlow.

"No," Ludlow agreed. "It's only just the beginning."

Jake and Henry left at that and headed outside where they saw Levine driving off in his Ferrari. Jake just stalked off towards the exit of the parking lot.

"Where we going?" asked Henry since he had nowhere else to be until the helicopter arrived.

"Lunch at the amphitheatre," Jake said simply as the large construction could be seen in the distance. The two walked in silence towards it as each thought about the conversation they had just had.

Isla Indigo: Head of Indigo Station, Danielle St. Ives was on the phone with Peter Ludlow.

"I give you my personal assurance that no embryos passed through this island from Nublar to the mainland," Danielle insisted. "We have very strict security checks in place."

"So do you have a record of everything Dennis Nedry brought onto Nublar during his last trip?" asked Ludlow next. Danielle's brow furled at that.

"Nedry?" she asked confused as to his importance and then began checking the records on her computer. "Yes of course I do. He brought assorted candy bars, soda cans, technical journals, and stuff like that. I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

"What was the bulkiest item he brought?" Ludlow asked next. Danielle wasn't sure where he was going with that statement but she checked her records.

"A can of shaving cream," she answered. A muffled silence was heard over the phone as if Ludlow was talking to someone and didn't want her to hear.

"Did you check the can?" he asked. Danielle was really perplexed about that.

"Not personally, but whomever did the checking on the item would've made sure that it worked," she answered. She then rattled off the name of the worker who had and then noted the case number to indicate Nedry had been cleared to go on to Jurassic Park just days before it collapsed.

"And no cans of shaving cream have left to the mainland since then?" Ludlow continued asking. Danielle checked her records again.

"Negative," she stated. Normally such detailed records would seem out of the ordinary for even a government customs checking point, but the trio of islands were supposed to be an entirely contained system with nothing come in or out without being checked and logged in the system. The danger of contaminants coming in or out was just too great a risk when dealing with dinosaurs.

"And you detail checked the boat?" asked Ludlow with the next predictable question.

"Every time," said Danielle beginning to feel a headache coming on over this questioning. "The Anne B. is an InGen contracted boat and they're well aware of our procedures. We've even retooled our entire checking procedure after we found that oviraptor that escaped its cage a few months back. I won't allow another A-1 incident to occur if it's in my power to prevent. Although I will say that we weren't afforded the opportunity to check the Nublar survivors or Drs. Whitacre and Wu since you circumvented us to get at them. Not to mention that tour of Hammond's from a couple days back."

"Yes and I apologize for that," said Ludlow truthfully. "But time is of the essence at the moment and I couldn't afford any delays."

"Fine," said Danielle willing to let it slide. "Just inform me about these things in the future because the safety of Indigo, Nublar, and Sorna is my top priority. Which brings up a question I had, what's the current status of Nublar?"

"Uncertain," said Ludlow with just as much uncertainty in his voice. "If you receive any supplies for that island, just stock them for now. We'll keep you appraised as things go on. But confiscate any and all shaving cans that are on the way out and make note of any that are brought in and whom they're going to. Oh and I'm planning for an inspection team to make their way through Indigo and Sorna in a few weeks so be prepared for them as well."

"Understood," Danielle acknowledged as Ludlow signed off. She hung up her phone and leaned back in her chair as a million thoughts raced through her head. And then she decided on a course of action as she always did during stressful situations and picked up the phone.

"Hey Danni, what's up?" asked Sam on the other end from Sorna.

"I'd like to arrange a meeting of the minds once Jake and Henry return," she requested.

"Sure, no problem," her counterpart agreed. "You want to meet there or here."

"Here, since Jake and Henry should be coming through anyway," Danielle responded. "I'll let you know when they're scheduled to arrive."

"See you then," said Sam and then he hung up. Danielle then tied up a stray strand of hair and then consulted her computer to see which customs official had approved Nedry to leave for Nublar with his things.

"Sherri?" she asked of her secretary. "I need to see Worker Stevens as soon as possible."

She then hung up her phone and then began reviewing all the items Nedry had brought to Nublar since Indigo was constructed and they started keeping records. It was going to be a long day.

San Diego: Jake and Henry sat on a row of seating in the empty Jurassic Park amphitheatre with their lunches. Jake was currently enjoying an ice cream cone as Henry was eating a salad. The amphitheatre had been constructed prior to, and in a relatively short time span, compared to Nublar, Sorna and Indigo, but had been abandoned once Hammond had permanently settled on an island to house the dinosaurs. The place had nearly been finished and the abrupt decision to abandon it hadn't sat well with the urban planning commission, Ludlow, and the government of San Diego. Some viewed its construction as a waste of space and money that was no longer going to generate revenue funds or jobs for the city, but InGen agreed to loan out the building for special events.

It was because the amphitheatre looked so interesting from a visual standpoint that they managed to book a handful of events each year. Usually stage performances, a couple of weddings, some corporate outings, and the occasional documentary crew passed through in a given year providing some revenue to justify not demolishing the place. And secretly the day before Jurassic Park was to accept dinosaurs into the paddocks, InGen snuck in some dinosaurs to wander the central area for the night as they held a huge celebration. As it stood now, there were a small group of workers in the central area setting up a stage for some event as bulldozers plowed the dirt back and forth.

"Ludlow's going to pay for this," Jake ruminated over bringing Levine into the fold. Henry chuckled at that.

"He's just doing what he thinks is best," the scientist remarked. "It's better than just leaving us to our own devices alone on Sorna. Who knows what we would do then, probably have our own Lord of the Flies occur."

Jake snorted at that as he leaned back and lay down on the bench.

"I think he's going to run this company into the ground," Jake further insisted.

"Always Mr. Negativity," Henry complained. "You said we'd be fine, remember?"

"We will," said Jake with a smile. "I never said jack about InGen."

Henry groaned at that as he continued eating his food.

"You know it's never too late to jump ship," said a new voice startling them both. Looking up, they found one of the executives of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, John Brown, standing on the steps next to them. He was an acquaintance of both Henry and Jake from high school having been a senior when they were freshmen in science club and a similar situation occurring in college. Secretly the two wondered if Brown was mad that they'd left for InGen before he had a chance to try and recruit them to his company. Even now they knew he still held hope they'd leave and work for him.

"Not today," said Henry resuming his salad.

"Why not?" asked John. "Considering what's happened on Nublar, I'd say you don't have much of a future left."

John Brown always had inside sources in rival companies and intelligence that seemed to rival the CIA at times.

"So you sabotaged Nublar to get us to work for you? How unoriginal," Jake lamented. John shook his head in shame over that comment.

"I have no reason to sabotage InGen. After all, they're not interested in the pharmaceuticals market and at the moment I don't see how their 'product' could be of any use to me," he remarked. "No, I strongly suspect as you do that Biosyn was responsible for this."

"No proof?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"They're too good at covering their tracks, we both know that," John responded as he put his hands in his suit jacket pockets and looked down at the workers below. "But if I hear anything conclusive, I'll let you know."

John Brown started back down the stairs.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm still not sure why you care," Jake admitted aloud.

"It's not for love of InGen, but more for fear of Biosyn," the executive stated as he continued walking down the steps leaving the two behind with their thoughts.

"Let's go, I'd rather deal with bloodthirsty dinosaurs than corporate sharks," said Henry shivering despite the warm weather.

"I hear that," Jake agreed and both collected their things and headed down the steps.

Biosyn HQ: Lewis Dodgson sat in a chair with a single light over it as he faced the darkened board of executive directors.

"You failed in your attempt to secure the embryos," the board noted.

"It was because of that fool Nedry that the plan fell apart," Dodgson corrected them. "But I can secure more embryos just give me some more time. I'm convinced that InGen secretly has a second facility where it is really manufacturing these dinosaurs. If I can infiltrate that island, I can make off with more than the fifteen specimens available on Nublar and increase our profits that much more."

Dodgson was confident that his proposal would be accepted by the board.

"**No**," was the unanimous response. Dodgson's expression dropped at that.

"What do you mean, no?" he demanded.

"Your failure to secure the embryos and the subsequent damage done to Jurassic Park has ensured that InGen will now be keeping a suspicious watch on us and will likely be increasing their security accordingly. That would make it much more difficult to acquire the embryos through illicit means. As if that was not enough, John Brown of Pacific Pharmaceuticals has used the incident as even more of a justification to go on the offensive against us. We can't afford any more bad publicity on this subject," said the Director angrily. "You are hereby ordered to drop all efforts against Nublar effective immediately."

"And if I don't?" Dodgson replied.

"Then you'll be terminated, effective immediately," the Leader answered. "You're dismissed."

Dodgson wanted to push the issue but decided now was not the right time and so he tipped his head at them and exited the room.

"Fools, they'll never know the possibilities we could've had," Dodgson complained bitterly before silently cursing Nedry in every way imaginable. And while every fiber in his being screamed that he should find a new way to obtain those embryos, he knew that his future in the company was now more at risk than it had ever been. But he had hurt InGen and that was what was the most important. Soon that company would collapse under its own weight and he'd be there, willing and waiting to pick up the pieces. It was only a matter of time.

Nighttime: In the Jurassic Park amphitheatre, John Brown was presenting his report to the shareholders and the other executives.

"In short, Biosyn is becoming more and more a threat with each passing moment," he concluded. "I have reason to suspect they deliberately attempted to sabotage InGen Bioengineering, the owners of this very complex, and could potentially do the same to us. They're a threat that needs to be dealt with now, not later."

"You really think we should be going to war with them?" asked the Director from the stands. "They've never done anything in the past as overt as what you're suggesting they just did to InGen…at least not without succeeding."

"But I think this is a golden opportunity because they did slip up," John continued further. "If we can link them to InGen's little mishap…find some smoking gun…then we can bring down Biosyn without doing anything overt. And let's face it, InGen would have to show their gratitude and we may get some access to their research. That information may benefit us in ways we can't even imagine."

The Director looked through the information packet he'd been given by the executive.

"You really think that whatever InGen was working on could have some viable applications in the pharmacological market?" asked the Director a little doubtful. He knew John Brown was hiding whatever he knew or suspected about the products InGen was creating, but that was fine by him. He didn't need to know at this point in the game to still stay ahead of him and his ambitions.

"I'm saying that bringing down Biosyn would greatly benefit us the most and anything InGen provides would be helpful as well," John told them. "Biological weapons, chemical warfare, strategic defense applications, the possibilities could be endless."

The Director lightly shook his head at the executive's continued desire to resurrect the defunct weapons program of Pacific Pharmaceuticals that had been abandoned in the early 80s.

"Fine," the Director agreed if only to give him something to do. "You may take covert action against Biosyn to determine if they were responsible for the InGen incident. But strictly under the radar, do you hear me? I don't want anything to happen that could be linked back to us."

"Understood," said John with a broad grin. Already in his mind, a plan of action was forming to topple Biosyn. With a little luck, Pacific Pharmaceuticals would acquire whatever was left of the company once he was through. And then maybe one day, InGen would follow suit and become another acquisition for them. It was only a matter of time.

InGen HQ: Peter Ludlow and Ross watched the proceeding on a close circuited television as John Brown concluded his speech.

"Interesting," said Ross drinking some coffee to stay awake. "I wouldn't have pegged John Brown to be so interested in stopping Biosyn for what they did to us."

"He's not," Ludlow concluded. "Biosyn is a threat to his company, but he's not going after them over some misguided sense of altruism. No, he wants InGen and Biosyn working for him to further his own ambitions. I won't let that happen."

"But how can you tell that's what he wants?" asked Ross curious.

"Because looking in his eyes, I see a reflection of my own. One day I will be the one truly running this company, not my Uncle, and then InGen will have entered a new era of unrivalled prosperity," Ludlow promised and then got up to leave. "And then nothing will stand in our way. I'll see you in the morning because we still have much work to do to keep this company secure. And soon it will be. It's only a matter of time."

Morning: The Anne B. departed from Costa Rica full of supplies as well as carrying Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu onboard. Both were looking a little green as seasickness occasionally hit them, which was why they preferred flying by air. But InGen San Jose refused to expend fuel on a helicopter to just take the two of them when a boat was headed the same way. The one bright spot was that Sam Stone and Lori Ruso, the head of dinosaur production, were coming by helicopter to meet up with them at Indigo so they could all have a long chat with Danielle and then fly back to Sorna. They all had a lot of work to do before Levine and his team arrived, but they'd get past it and what happened to Jurassic Park and keep doing what they had always been doing. It was only a matter of time.


	6. Indigo and the A1 Incident

Isla Indigo: The Anne B. settled to a halt in its berth at the docks inside of a large warehouse building and then lowered its ramps for offloading passengers and cargo. Immediately off the ramp rushed Jake and Henry with their duffel bags and breathed a sigh of relief once they hit terra firma.

"Once again we have cheated death aboard that death trap," Jake stated heroically. Henry nodded his head.

"We live to fight another day," he declared as well and sharply nodded his head. The two both breathed a sigh of relief and walked up to the customs area.

"Seasick?" asked the customs official with a raised eyebrow. Jake and Henry shook their heads.

"Not exactly, more that we don't trust that rickety old crate to not sink on us," Henry answered. The Anne B. was definitely an older boat and had various pieces of rust on her, but otherwise was reliable by InGen standards.

"I for one can't wait for the SS Venture to finally be operational," Jake remarked. The SS Venture was a custom designed boat that was currently being built and was actually designed for the purpose of ferrying dinosaurs and supplies from island to island. She would replace the Anne B. which was scheduled to be decommissioned and her crew transferred over. But now that Jurassic Park's future was uncertain, it finally dawned on Henry and Jake with that remark that they had no idea what would become of the craft...or of the supplies she was supposed to be eventually ferrying.

All the more reason they needed to hold this meeting with Daniella, Sam and Lori.

"Okay, open 'em up," said the customs official as Jake and Henry popped open their duffel bags and the customs workers began going through each item.

"I swear the security here is work than San Diego International Airport," Jake complained lightly to Henry. But they'd been through this process every time they brought something back with them and they both recognized the importance of the customs process. Yet both wondered if Nedry had succeeded in getting embryos off the island, would customs have found them before they made it to the mainland? They didn't know and doubted they ever would.

"Something interesting about the cans of shaving cream?" asked Henry curious as both the customs agents were giving the cans they had brought quite the going over.

"We've been told to carefully observe all shaving cans and if necessary confiscate them," one of the workers replied simply. Jake and Henry were confused by that.

"Since when?" they asked.

"New policy," the workers responded continuing to examine the cans. Jake wasn't happy about that.

"Well if this is an excuse to buy the ridiculously expensive Jurassic Park branded shaving cream, you can forget it," he responded crossing his arms. "But I'll be darned if I'm going to be caught sporting a beard."

"Oh, I don't know," said a new voice from behind them. "Some women might find a beard to be…sexy."

Jake broke down into laughter at that without turning around.

"Danno, what's happening?" he said as he turned around and slapped hands with Daniela St. Ives who shook her head at his standard greeting.

"One of these days I'm going to sue you for sexual harassment and that's what'll be happening," she promised lightly. Jake looked thoughtful at that.

"Nothing gets my heart pumping more than the thought of you and the promise of litigation," he swore. Daniela rolled her eyes at that.

"Always the shameless flirt," she acknowledged, although she always enjoyed their tug of war banter. "Hey Henry, what's new?"

"Shaving cream, apparently," the scientist figured as the cans were being run under an x-ray machine, while the rest of their stuff was being cataloged into the computer. "Is this really necessary?"

"Just following orders," she told them. Around the rest of the warehouse, other personnel were having their stuff checked as cargo was being unloaded and thoroughly checked by personnel while still others were combing the boat from stem to stern as they always did.

"You offloading the Nublar cargo?" asked Jake curious. Daniela nodded her head.

"Anybody ask why?" Henry inquired. Behind them their stuff was being given one final check before being zipped up inside the bags.

"No, but they know," Daniela answered. By now everyone knew the tour on Jurassic Park had fallen apart and the island now completely uninhabited by humans even though there had been no official word on the subject.

"Well at least we'll have surplus supplies if they suddenly decide to stop coming," Jake remarked. All of them knew that the supplies currently coming in had already been paid for well before Jurassic Park went under. But now that it had, they wondered how much longer InGen would continue to drain its funds for a project that for all intents and purposes had gone bust. Conservation of supplies was one of the many topics that were on the agenda for later.

"They good to go?" asked Daniela of the team.

"Just need to be frisked," the customs official responded. Jake got a mischievous glint in his at that.

"Do you want to do the honors, my dear? You know nothing gets my heart beating more than the thought of you and…," began the scientist when Daniela cut him off.

"You keep this up and I'll authorize a full cavity search," the leader of Indigo threatened with an evil grin on her face.

That shut Jake up as Henry laughed and laughed.

San Diego: Richard Levine was happily on the phone with Martin Gutierrez.

"We did it Marty, I can't believe it!" said Levine ecstatic. "After all that work and constant pestering and it finally paid off! We're going to see live dinosaurs in their natural habitat…more or less."

"I agree," said Gutierrez also pleased, although more reserved in tone. "I'll need plenty of data on them to prevent further incidents in Costa Rica should the animals ever escape."

"Oh you think too small," said Levine dismissively. "With the data we collect, we can easily frame the debate on dinosaur behavior from now until forever. I'll be the premiere scientist in my field!"

"Perhaps," replied Gutierrez, not really caring about fame and fortune. "So when do we make our inspection tour?"

"Oh, not until the end of the month," Levine answered while yawning. "I've got to get my things together and prep my student assistants on what to expect. Plus I have to convince Thorne to come along. Apparently he'd be happy to go if he could field test some of his new equipment, but evidently coming along to test another company's stuff is somehow not worth his time. Never mind that InGen is paying us a bundle to go and check this island out."

"Well, good luck with that," responded Gutierrez amused at that prospect. "I'll see you here in a few weeks."

Levine signed off and Gutierrez hung up the phone before looking down at his desk that was covered in black and white glossy photos of the deinonychosaurs that had ripped an entire rural Costa Rican village to pieces in a matter of moments. He then looked apprehensively at a new addition to his collection of information on the attack, a lone VHS tape. The tape had cost him an arm and a leg to acquire from his sources inside of the Costa Rican government, but on it was supposed to be the only video footage of both the attack and the aftermath. This was only a copy of the original master tape, but it was still hard evidence about what had happened. With a bit of hesitancy, he took the tape and placed it in his VCR and pressed play.

The first image that appeared was a warning that the following video was deemed classified by the Costa Rican Government and any unauthorized viewing would be met with severe punishment. Another image appeared displaying the words: Incident A-1 along with a date of 4/9/91 and the location where the incident occurred.

The video then turned to static and then after the static cleared from the screen, an image appeared that was a little distorted and he adjusted the tracking and the image became a little clearer. The image greeting him was of a village seemingly like any other with a group of wooden huts aligned on either side of a singular road leading off into the jungle. Children ran around the village playing as other adults mingled amongst each other. The person recording the tape was having a conversation with someone being filmed about strange noises coming from the jungle the night before. It was a little hard to make out as the audio was a little distorted and they were speaking in a dialect of Spanish that Gutierrez wasn't entirely familiar with.

And then shouts were heard and the camera refocused on a group of villagers pointing into the jungle at something unseen. And then a bone chilling roar was heard and two blurs raced across the village from the jungle going after the villagers. The cameraman tried to track them and then a shadow of one of the huts was seen on the ground below and then an object leapt atop it, castings its own shadow as well. The cameraman spun the camera around and then focused on the object. It was difficult to make out as the sun was shining down heavily from behind the creature, but it had was bipedal in nature and it looked around at the village below before noticing the person filming the footage and roared once more before leaping straight at the screen and revealing its image to be a deinonychosaur.

Gutierrez stumbled out of his chair to try and get away, he had been so engrossed in the footage before the camera went flying and the resulting sounds were too sickening to describe as the camera continued filming from an awkward angle. An explosion was soon heard and flames engulfed the village as people and dinosaurs ran everywhere. Gutierrez was beginning to turn green from the things he saw or imagined that he saw in the footage as chaos continued to ensue for several minutes, but he was too horrified to turn away.

POP…POP…POP

Shots were then heard firing and two of the dinosaurs dropped and the third tried to run for the safety of the trees as four figures raced across the road and past the camera and fired their tranquilizer guns and downed the thing. The four figures then turned and examined the village around them with a mixture of emotions before one of them took out a radio and began speaking into it as the others fanned out looking for survivors. Their voices were nearly impossible to make out, much less who they were, but Gutierrez swore Drs. Henry Wu and Jake Whitacre were among them.

And then a thumping sound was heard as a cargo helicopter came in from above kicking up dirt and debris and also helping to put out some of the flames. From the vehicle a team rushed out with slings and loaded the dinosaurs onto them and then it quickly took off back out of sight leaving only one person behind in a business suit who spoke calmly with the four team members before the sounds of heavy engines were heard. The four members turned to watch as out of the side of the camera, several army vehicles could be seen coming to a halt as troops disembarked and fanned out over the area. One of them noticed the camera and picked it up and instantly the image shut off.

After a few moments of darkness, a new video image appeared of troops in the back of an uncovered military transport as someone was documenting their mission. The camera then panned up and focused on smoke rising high above the trees, evidently from the village on the previous sequence. After a few more minutes, the vehicles came to a halt and the troops piled out and the video now showed long panning shots of the destroyed village and the ensuing carnage. Gutierrez turned even more green at the images of bloody bodies strewn across the street and surrounding areas from ages ranging from the elderly to the very young. It was sickening to watch and even the soldiers seemed a little surprised by what they found.

And then the camera turned to the five individuals who seemed out of place with the devastation, especially as one of them was wearing a very sharp business suit. The man in the business suit was having a heated argument with who was clearly Henry Wu and Jake Whitacre over something called A-1 before noticing the troops were approaching and the general leading them walked up and exchanged words with the person in the business suit. Gutierrez scribbled down what words he could hear including InGen, Nublar, Costa Rica's Department of Health and Safety, and a desire to contact a high ranking official in the government. The General reluctantly picked up his radio and spoke into it and was surprised with the response he got and immediately motioned for the camera to be shut off as a pair of soldiers began dousing the area with flamethrowers.

Another image appeared, once again displaying the words: Incident A-1 along with a date of 4/9/91 and now with the words CASE CLOSED. And then tape shut off.

Martin Gutierrez leaned back in his chair in utter disbelief over what he had just seen. He had wanted a smoking gun to use against InGen for a long over what had happened, but after what he had just witnessed, he was now no longer sure what to do. The images he had seen were much more unsettling than the pictures and reports he had acquired over the past two years and he now felt physically ill. He could only wonder how Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu felt having seen the destruction in person and what they felt each time he bothered them over the incident.

All Gutierrez knew now was one thing. Those dinosaurs could not be allowed to escape their islands and make their way to the mainland.

San Diego, InGen Waterfront Complex: Peter Ludlow and the Ingen board of directors were listening to a droning report from their treasurer about InGen's current financial situation.

"This is all fine, but how are we going to stay afloat now that Jurassic Park is no more?" asked Ludlow concerned.

"So the Jurassic Park Project is now officially considered a loss?" asked Samantha Matthis, another board member. Ludlow nodded his head.

"With investors pulling out, we'll never be able to fully fund repairing the island. Besides, with the negative publicity that the survivors would likely spill if we did get the island working again, the negative publicity would have made our efforts useless," he commented.

"Could we reactivate Jurassic Park San Diego?" asked another board member. Ludlow shrugged.

"Perhaps in a few years when any talk of what happened at Jurassic Park is just a memory," he admitted. "But none of that is important right now. What is important is finding a way to minimize our continued losses due to the Dinosaur Revivification Project."

"Well I think we can no longer afford to be running two separate islands," said the Treasurer in reference to Indigo and Sorna. "Condensing our operations to just Site B is more feasible now that we no longer have to worry about sending supplies from Indigo to two different islands. Customs checks can be done at Sorna once they've finished receiving cargo originally bound for Nublar."

"Speaking of cargo, I'm assuming we're going to immediately look over all existing contracts and cancelling most of them," the Treasurer remarked. "That leaves the question as to how long Sorna can survive with the supplies currently on hand or about to be shipped to them."

"I don't know, but I can certainly find out," Samantha remarked as she began checking her notes. Supplies and supply chain management was her particular division.

"Which leads to another cost saving measure, layoffs," said the HR Director finally bringing up the one thought on everyone's minds in the room. "Jurassic Park is no more and that means all employees only scheduled to work there should be immediately terminated. The rest we'll have to review on a regular basis and make decisions accordingly."

"No," said Ludlow surprising them with that response. "We can let go of all personnel who have yet to make it to any of the islands, but I need everyone else to stay employed until I can find out whether or not Nedry had any accomplices. Merging the island staff I have no issues with, but nothing else until the investigation is complete."

"Agreed," said Samantha in complete approval as she finished going through her notes. "Well based on what I have before me, Indigo could last six months to a year with the supplies it currently has. And Sorna…three months."

"Three months?" commented Ludlow at a loss. "What is the majority of that money being spent on?"

"Fuel, primarily," Samantha answered. "That's for the vehicles and power station."

Ludlow blinked at that. "I thought the island was supposed to run on geothermal power that didn't need replenishing. I remember it cost a large amount of funds to get the plant built and operational."

"That's true," Samantha conceded. "But as the island facilities and need for electrified fences grew, it required a larger power output than what was being provided by the geothermal vents. The island was never meant to house as many dinosaurs as it does now, but when Jurassic Park San Diego was abandoned and Nublar took longer to build than anticipated, the need for more fences just piled up. Nublar has the geothermal power to house all the dinosaurs and once they were transferred, the need for fuel on Sorna would've been dramatically reduced. But now…"

"I get the picture," Ludlow groaned. "Tell them they're going to have to learn to stretch what supplies they have for now because we can't guarantee when they'll be replenished."

"Umm…okay," said Samantha a little unsure how to respond to that. She'd done everything already to limit Sorna's fuel consumption, but to limit it even further would require her to once more go back to the drawing board. She was also going to need to have a long chat with the top personnel of Indigo and Sorna when the HR Director went down there to explain the new changes. As Ludlow decided to postpone any further talks about budgets and instead focus on how they were going to explain the loss of Jurassic Park to the shareholders, Samantha secretly wondered if the heads of the two islands suspected what was coming.

Indigo: Beyond just being a customs checkpoint for Sorna and Nublar, Isla Indigo was also meant to serve as a greeting point for all tourists heading for Jurassic Park. As such, it contained its own fully functioning Visitors Center that looked very similar to the one on Nublar. Lead scientists Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu; Sam Stone, Head of Isla Sorna; Lori Ruso, Head of Production on Sorna and second on the chain of command for Sorna; and Daniela St. Ives, Head of Isla Indigo; were in the conference room of that Center all sitting around the table each having small chats with each to discuss what their futures held.

"Shaving cans…I suppose it's possible to house an embryo storage unit inside of one," Henry mused with Jake.

"Yeah, but it couldn't contain much coolant and especially not if it could also produce shaving cream," Jake responded, also thoughtful.

"Well it wouldn't need to. All it would need would be to survive the boat trip out, time on Nublar waiting for Nedry to act, and then the boat trip back. Sixteen hours round trip plus Nedry being on the island for at least twelve hours and that'd put you close to thirty. As I recall, when the tech guys were coming up with portable freezers for transporting the embryos, the smallest model could potentially have lasted 35, 36 hours," Henry remembered before consulting his watch. "Course, that time period is long past now."

"True, but that doesn't mean they didn't get off the island," Jake responded and then upon noticing a look from Daniela who had been silently listening to their conversation, he held up his hands in surrender. "I don't mean that in a bad way. You've trained your people well, but if whomever hired Nedry was willing to make a shaving cream can that could smuggle out embryos, then they probably also had a plan for making sure that can was never found by customs going out."

Daniela sighed at that and nodded her head as she rubbed her eyelids. "No, you're absolutely right. But I'm just not sure what we could've done differently."

"Sometimes you can do everything right and still lose," Henry quoted. Daniella nodded her head.

"Sage advice, who said it?" she asked curious. "Ghandi, Sartre?"

Henry had a big smile on his face. "It was Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise."

Daniela chuckled at that, Henry's advice had helped raise her spirits in more than ways than one. She then straightened up and looked down the table at the rest who had finished their side conversations and looked at her expectantly. She had never tried to assume command over the functions of the trio of islands, but since she was the focal point for all things coming and going from the islands it had sort of informally developed that the others often defaulted to her wisdom. Except during the incident at Jurassic Park, that had completely escaped her notice until Sam was calling to tell her about losing contact with the island. She had been at a complete loss and for the first time in a long time, uncertain what to do.

But the others had picked up the slack and gone and investigated the island and she was ready to once more assume her role as the de facto leader of this oddball group.

"Alright, let's get started," she began. "Here's what we know so far, Jurassic Park is no more. That means InGen is going to be making some hard choices about these islands in the coming weeks. The question is what are they planning and what are we going to do about it in the meantime?"

The others looked at her expectantly as she leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Make no mistake, the Board of Directors might think they know what goes on with these islands, but they have no idea. Hammond knows and Ludlow thinks he knows, but not once have any of the other members of the board visited any of these islands. Because of that, in the coming weeks it'll be use versus them and I have to side with us," she swore. "Isla Nublar became a lost world and people died. I won't see the same fate befall Isla Sorna."

"None of us will," Sam agreed and everyone in the room nodded their heads in approval. They had a lot of work to ahead.

A/N: Lori Ruso being Head of Production on Isla Sorna is actually from The Lost World Novel. She is briefly mentioned on a document found in the abandoned production facilities. A couple chapters back, Henry and Jake wanted George Baselton to investigate their island is a reference to InGen hiring him to write a report on the non-existence of Jurassic Park that was again a brief mention in The Lost World novel.

Also, her name escapes me at the moment, but I plan on writing more about Isla Sorna's resident MD mentioned in passing in Chapter 2. Her name came from the Jurassic Park novelization as she was the doctor on a remote Costa Rica villa where the worker injured by the Raptor was brought. To mildly spoil, I'm also planning on making her origin more in line with the novel except instead of a worker being brought with Raptor injuries to her, instead she received the worker poisoned by the Dilophosaurs in Chapter 4 of this story and InGen hired her after she kept making inquiries on the incident.

Oh and Jess being Harding's daughter is from the new Jurassic Park game by Telltale Games. So if you want to hear more about her and her father's story on Nublar, go play the episodic series coming out by them. Sarah also being Harding's daughter is out of the TLW novelization. I also plan on Harding reappearing in this story next chapter. Maybe Jess will too, I haven't decided.


	7. Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings

San Diego, Pacific Pharmaceuticals HQ: John Brown sat with his five member team that specialized in corporate espionage as they reviewed their notes on InGen and Biosyn.

"So they stole embryos from InGen's facility on Isla Nublar?" asked team leader Jeff Thomas.

"I don't know if they succeeded or not, that's something we'll need to find out. But yes, that was their original intent," John answered. John had sources everywhere, even among InGen's Board of Directors.

"Embryos of what?" asked intelligence expert, Lorne Tenners.

"I'm afraid that's classified, but needless to say they're one of a kind," John Brown remarked. "In their attempt to acquire them, one of their lead programmers shut off the security systems on the island and then a tropical storm hit resulting in his death along with several others. What we need is proof that Biosyn was in contact with this individual and supplied him with the means and the motive to pull off this heist."

"So where do we start?" asked Jeff.

"One of the first things we need is to find proof that a device to house embryos could avoid detection. Serena, I need you to cook up some prototypes that might avoid a random spot check at any airport," said John to his R&D expert who nodded her head. "Once that's done, then things will get interesting."

* * *

Indigo: "I think that's a mistake," said Jake in response to a suggestion that Daniela had made. Henry nodded his head in agreement.

"What's wrong with shutting off all the fences to the herbivore pens?" Daniela demanded.

"Because those herbivores get spooked every time a storm rumbles through or a predator roars and all we need is one of them breaking loose and it's all over," Sam stated. "I don't need to tell you how much damage one unsupervised dinosaur can cause."

That was in reference to the oviraptor incident when its cage wasn't properly locked so it escaped and caused mayhem on Indigo before being recaptured and subsequently sent back to Sorna. It also was useful to bring up because it avoided mention of the A-1 Incident which had ended considerably worse.

"Well that little incident will only be the beginning because Lori just said that you can't last more than three months with the fuel you have on hand," Daniela retorted. Lori was an expert at Supply Chain Management which is why she was in charge of making the production of dinosaur eggs as efficient as possible. She'd also worked hard with Samantha of the InGen Board to limit their fuel consumption as much as possible, but three months always seemed to be the limit with the supplies they were currently receiving. Lori also had a feeling Samantha would be coming to her to try and come up with extending it past that, something which in her mind couldn't be done without consequences like shutting off the fences.

"Well we could lower the voltage. That might save…something," Lori at least offered. "The downside being the way the pens are tied together on the grid means that while we could kill the power to an individual pen, we can't just simply lower the voltage to just one, it'd have to be for all of them. Still, every little bit helps."

"I suppose that is a viable option," Sam agreed. "But what are we going to do about the production facilities? They're powered by geothermal vents and not on oil, but if we shut them down we could direct that power elsewhere."

"Absolutely not," stated Henry firmly. "We shut down the plants and the scientists will have nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs and that would give InGen more reason to lay them off that much quicker."

"But by making more dinosaurs you'll only be placing more strain on supplies in the future," Daniela reasoned.

"Oh I agree, it's not a perfect solution but Jake and I have ultimate say on keeping the plants running and they're staying online," concluded Henry. That was standard InGen procedure that the two lead scientists had control over the DRP project unless there was an imminent danger to the workers safety in which case Sam could step in and shut them down if Jake and Henry refused. It had never been an issue before with that overlap of power, but it could easily be seen how it might become one with the way things were going.

"But of course everything is subject to change and if the fuel supplies drop dangerously low and the fences are in danger of failing then we'll of course reconsider," Jake said amicably to try and cool the tension in the room. But he agreed with Henry in keeping the labs running beyond just the reason Henry mentioned. If the plants were shut down and the Board demanded them to be restarted, it would take a long time to get them working again and also cause a huge drain on the power supply that they couldn't afford at the moment.

"I think another way to conserve fuel would be to reexamine putting down electrical tracks on Sorna and trying to implement the tour program there," suggested Sam as well. "We are going to have to go back to the drawing board on that one though because the first time we tried, we had some hiccups along the way."

"That's putting it mildly," Lori groaned as she leaned back in her chair and felt a headache coming on. The driverless tour program had been field tested on Sorna to try and cut down on fuel costs but the test had ended horribly with several destroyed tour vehicles. The field tests subsequently moved to Nublar where Ray Arnold and Dennis Nedry could better watch over it. Even then not all the problems had been worked out before the Jurassic Park incident and it made Lori nervous since she knew that she'd be the one again watching over its implementation just like the first time. She just hoped they could update their current version of the tour program OS with the one on Nublar.

"Good, that's a start," said Daniela pleased. "We have more than enough track being stored here that was intended for Nublar that you can help yourselves to. We'll put it all on the Anne B. the next time she passes through."

"Well at least it will give the boys something to do," Sam figured. "Oh and I forgot to mention this, but I've got Nikki and her crew working on a series of disaster scenarios for Site B."

"Great," complained Jake rolling his eyes. 'Nikki' referred to Nicolette who hated to be called by that name. She viewed herself and her team of designers, engineers, and others as being better than the rest of the workers on Indigo, Nublar, and Sorna. She felt their work was beyond the comprehension of anyone not in their group and that they should be left to their own devices. She also wasn't afraid to say so which is she was often viewed as the female equivalent to Nedry. That Sam had actually given her a direct order probably wasn't sitting well with her right now and her final report would likely reflect this.

"Hey J, are you going to try and follow up on Nedry's actions?" asked Sam curious. Jake sighed at that.

"I'd like to, but Ludlow's mad enough at me as it is. If I go poking around some more, it might drive him over the edge," the scientist answered. "Besides, I wouldn't even know where to start."

Sam nodded his head and went back to reviewing his notes as silence descended on the room.

"Do you think they'll merge the staff of the two islands?" asked Henry finally.

"I hope not," Daniela responded firmly. "That would be a big mistake because we would no longer be able to assure complete quality control over incoming and outgoing supplies and it would only get worse from there. Indigo was designed to provide customs not Sorna and it should stay that way."

Henry lightly nodded his head in agreement and looked at Jake who was yawning. The meeting had already been going for three hours with talk about all sorts of energy and supply saving measures but they'd largely gotten nowhere. Now they were all tired and anxious to get back to things they knew how to do.

"Well I guess we can recess for now," Daniela finally admitted. "We'll video conference in a couple of weeks and see how things are going then."

"Agreed," said Sam relieved as he collected his notes and got up with the rest. He headed for the exit with Jake, Henry, and Lori in tow before Daniela called out to them.

"Good luck with your inspection," she told them. Sam nodded with a grin as he tipped his head at her and then walked out of the room while Lori gave a friendly wave and left as well. Jake and Henry were about to leave when the former turned towards her.

"Am I going to ever get my can of shaving cream back?" he asked innocently. Daniela gave a fake scowl at him.

"Get out of here!" she said in mock anger.

"Hmmph," said Jake miffed. And then a grin spread across Henry's face as he thought of something else.

"Burger, burger, burger!" he began chanting as a similar grin spread across Jake's face and both left chanting that word. Daniela had no idea why the two were doing that but the scientists always were the strange ones amongst the personnel. Sighing to herself, she began once more reviewing her copious amounts of notes, sheets full of data, and other pages with miscellaneous information when her phone rang.

"St. Ives," she said into it.

"I've got that customs worker ready to meet you anytime," said her secretary. Daniela began chewing on the end of her pen in thought before responding.

"It'll have to be tomorrow morning at nine," she said and then hung up the phone. She briefly debated bringing Jake into the conversation with the worker, but quickly decided not to. If there was a conspiracy going on here, she'd get to the bottom of it herself without his craziness adding to the mix. Besides, she wasn't entirely convinced that the male scientist had suddenly given up all desire to figure out what had really happened on Nublar.

* * *

InGen HQ: Peter Ludlow was filling out various forms and approving plans for Indigo, Nublar and Sorna when a knock was heard at his door.

"Yes?" he inquired. The door opened and an elderly man in a black suit appeared. It was John Hammond's butler.

"Your uncle wishes to see you," the man said simply and then left as Ludlow started to scowl at the request. This new intrusion during such a perilous time for InGen was entirely unwelcomed in his eyes. Undoubtedly his uncle knew about some of the things the Board had planned and now wanted to discuss it with him. His decisions would likely drive InGen into the ground that much faster, but there was little he could do about it. Nublar had been a failure but Indigo and Sorna were still going strong and there wasn't enough cause to bring forward a motion to the board to have him relieved of his position. One day something would happen to cause InGen to lose faith in his uncle and when it did he'd be ready.

But that day was not today and so Ludlow prepared himself for the meeting he was going to have with the CEO of InGen Bioengineering about the future.

* * *

Sorna: The helicopter landed on top of the Operations Building in the Worker Village and then took off immediately once the workers got out and headed for its hanger near the dirt runway a few miles away.

"Boy was Jennifer mad at you two," Sam declared as he almost thought he was deaf after the co-pilot had yelled at them for nearly the entire ride back about the croc that they had encountered.

"Look I'm not responsible for what gets sent to Nublar!" Jake complained. "I barely know what dinosaurs we even have on this island."

"Besides that, crocs aren't dinosaurs," Henry said, also a little miffed at Jennifer and her behavior.

"How did you clone that thing? I didn't think we'd found any DNA for one," Lori wondered aloud.

"Technically we didn't," said Jake as the group walked down the steps to the building below. "Hammond really wanted one for whatever reason so we took DNA from ones that are living today and reverse engineered it. But we only made one and intentionally made it sterile just in case it ever encountered any of it current day family members."

"Did Hammond want anything else like that?" asked Lori next.

"He wanted prehistoric sharks as well but we convinced him it was impossible," said Henry with a smile. "What we didn't tell him was that we really didn't want to do the legwork to get it done."

Sam laughed at that as Lori shook her head in shame.

"So as you can see, laziness is a virtue in some cases," said Jake yawning as he stretched once they hit the ground floor.

"So what now, go get that burger you've been dreaming about?" asked Sam anticipating his next move.

"No," said Jake shaking his head. "It's too late for lunch and too early for dinner so I think I'm going to go for a few rounds on the golf course. Want to come?"

"No way, I've got to get myself permanently settled in here," Henry admitted. "I've also got to figure out how much damage you've done to these scientists work ethic because if anybody knows how to procrastinate, it's you."

Lori knowingly chuckled at that as she tried to hold her hands over her mouth and quiet the noise.

"Well you'll find it's not too bad because LoRu here was always hustling me to meet her ridiculous standards," said Jake referring to Lori by her portmanteau nickname.

"You're damn right," Lori responded nodding her head vigorously. "And I don't golf so excuse me, but I have work to do."

"Sam?" asked Jake. His friend shook his head.

"Unlike you, I have an entire island to run and I need to figure out how to keep it running if InGen cuts off our supply line. Besides, I'm planning on giving a speech during dinner tonight to finally explain to the workers about what's been going on with Jurassic Park," he said and left for his office and the others also parted their separate ways to work.

"Now what am I supposed to do?" asked Jake aloud as he leaned against the mural of Jurassic Park.

"What do you mean?" asked a new voice. Jake looked up to see Carly in a blue and white tracksuit chewing a piece of gum. An evil grin spread across his face at that.

"Hey, CC, do you want to go play a few rounds on the golf course?" asked Jake hopefully. Carly's face scrunched up at that.

"Ugh, no!" she stated before instantly reconsidering. "Actually, if I play a couple holes will you lob a couple sets with me?"

She held up her tennis racquet that she was carrying. Jake shuddered at that, but his desire to not play by himself won him over.

"Let's go," he said as he walked into his office and deposited his duffel bag and retrieved his clubs and racquet. The two were almost out the door when Sam caught up with him.

"Oh as part of the fuel saving measures we're planning on implementing, no more using fuel for non-work purposes. You two will have to walk," he told them.

"WHAT?" shouted Jake irate before groaning to himself. Carly gave him a grin and then a mock look of sympathy as she patted his shoulder.

"Gee, what a shame. But you can tell me all about these new measures on the way," she said pleased with this turn of events. Jake sagged even lower at that comment and then straightened up and headed out the door.

"The promise of a good burger is the only thing keeping me going right now," he swore as he and Carly made their way down the central strip of the Village.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that Alejandro threw out all the hamburger meat because he claimed it had gone rancid," Carly mentioned offhand. Jake's expression turned to pure shock at that as Carly began laughing hysterically.

"Fooled ya!" she declared and then immediately ran for the village exit as Jake chased after her. Sam watched them go, amused as Chef Alejandro appeared near the doorway having raided Jake's duffel bag for his apron.

"Perhaps that is not a bad idea," he mused aloud at Carly's suggestion.

"Oh, can it," said Sam lightly as he took a sip of his coffee. "We're all going to need some greasy food for tonight's dinner after what I'll have to say."

Alejandro tipped his head and left to go to the kitchen to start preparations with his fellow chefs for the night's meal. Sam gulped down his coffee and then went to his office and sat at his computer terminal before cracking his knuckles and beginning to type up his official report on the changes that were going to be implemented on the island.

* * *

San Diego, Pacific Pharmaceuticals HQ: John Brown yawned into hand as he struggled to stay awake. It was only the late afternoon, but after being given the go ahead to pursue action against Biosyn, he'd been up all night planning and plotting and got virtually no sleep. He was sitting in his office reviewing the preliminary notes from Serena about possible containers to house the embryos that could make it past an inspection. She had only gotten started on the project and had yet to produce any working examples, but what she had come up with so far had been very interesting.

He then turned to his portable computer and began researching data the rest of his team had already 'acquired' about Arnold Nedry and his bank accounts, both on the record and off the record. And sure enough there was a deposit in an unofficial account in Costa Rica for quite a large lump sum just a couple days prior to the incident on Isla Nublar. That was a very interesting and provided a possible starting point for their investigations out in the field.

"Jeff?" he asked as he picked up the phone and dialed the leader of the team.

"What's up, boss?" was the response.

"I need you to pull Nedry's passport records and start preparing for a fact finding trip to Costa Rica…and Cambridge," he said and then hung the phone back up. He then leaned back in his chair as he sat twiddling a pen in his hand deep in thought about the overtures Biosyn would've made to the programmer and convinced him to betray his employers.

Across town: Peter Ludlow's limousine came to a halt outside of his Uncle's posh apartment complex and he stepped out after the chauffer opened the door and took a deep breath before looking out at San Diego. He truly loved the city and felt that with the right attractions it could be the center of California, not Hollywood. Jurassic Park San Diego could have been that attraction but his Uncle had bailed on the project for no good reason. But if Ludlow had his way, then some day the amphitheatre would be opened for the world to see and the profits would begin rolling in and the city would never be the same again.

But once more that day was still not today and so he slowly climbed the step to enter the apartment complex of his esteemed uncle, John Hammond.

* * *

Sorna: "So what'd you have to talk about at the meeting?" asked Carly finally as she was waiting for Jake to putt. Isla Sorna had more than enough room to squeeze in some extracurricular facilities and it was host to its own nine-hole golf course along with tennis courts, an indoor recreation center, and a pool. Jake and Carly were both average golfers, Jake being more gung ho about the sport than Carly was, and when they just golfed together they didn't keep score.

"Oh the usual," responded Jake noncommittally. "It was all about logistics and other boring stuff."

He had finally lined up his shot and was about to hit it when Carly asked one more question.

"So I take it Jurassic Park is no more?" she asked. Jake's put wavered off course and missed the hole, thereby answering her question.

"Yeah," he said distantly as he walked up and pushed in his ball. He then collected it and grabbed his clubs as Carly grabbed hers and they walked off towards the tennis courts. The sun was slowly sinking in the horizon and so they'd agreed to play only three holes.

"So what do we do now?" Carly continued. Jake shrugged.

"Not much at the moment. Just try and conserve our resources and be like the dinosaurs, be survivors," Jake answered as they entered into the court area and they set down their clubs and picked up their racquets and began lobbing balls back and forth over the net.

"Is it wrong that I'm already a little bit scared?" asked Carly. She had heard the rumors of what had happened on the Park when the fences failed and while they were probably overblown, if even part of it was true, then the resulting consequences if Sorna underwent the same event would be disastrous.

"We're all scared," Jake told her before adding cryptically. "But don't worry about this island becoming some kind of lost world. If we had plans to bring them into this world then you can rest assured that we also have plans to take them out."

Carly wanted to ask what that meant when storm clouds rolled in and the weather turned threatening. Storms were a common occurrence on Sorna, this was nothing new, but that it had rolled in during their conversation seemed particularly ominous.

"I'll have to make this up to you," Jake promised as the two finished up and moved gathered their things and began walking back towards the village. Dinosaur roars picked up as the sounds of thunder was heard in the sky above. The two then hitched a ride on one of the trucks heading back to the village and rode in the back completely silent as each stared out at the miles of perimeter fencing with their telltale blinking blue and red lights acting as beacons in the surrounding darkness. But both of them couldn't help but wonder what would happen the day those beacons stopped shining…

* * *

Hammond's apartment: Nighttime had fallen outside as Peter Ludlow rang the doorbell to the apartment. Normally he wouldn't have come so late, but when his uncle requested an audience, it usually meant that day no matter the time. And so he found himself being let in by the butler who had contacted him earlier. He was led to the dining area where his esteemed Uncle was finishing his dinner.

"Ah, Peter, please sit down," said Hammond amicably as he pointed to a seat on the far end of the long table. The COO sat down without saying a word and pulled out a folder that contained a number of files that he had brought with him and began setting them on the table.

"What is all that?" asked Hammond curious.

"Board Reports, Financial Statements, Reports to the Shareholders," said Ludlow as if that should be obvious. "I assume that's why you called me here, to discuss the future of InGen."

"Well, yes, but if there's something I've learned from my recent adventures, it's that numbers are only part of the story. Numbers allow us to think, but not to feel. And it's what we feel that really matters in the end," Hammond said mystically. Ludlow had not the slightest idea what that was supposed to mean or why it was pertinent to their conversation. He also wondered what had happened to his uncle during his time on Nublar to cause this sudden change in his behavior.

"Well if you do not wish to discuss hard facts, then how do you want to hear about the current state of our company?" he asked a little annoyed. Hammond had to agree with that assessment.

"Just tell me what you feel the future of InGen is," Hammond requested. Ludlow sighed and clasped his hands together on the table as he stared at his uncle passively.

"Simply put, not good," he began. "The Dinosaur Revivification Project was a large venture in terms of capital and resources, not to mention manpower. As with all companies, we needed to display those assets and make a profit on them in order to survive. The avenue that you chose to display the fruits of that labor to the public was through Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. However, an incident occurred and now that location is no longer tenable for our needs to recoup our losses, losses which are now steadily increasing exponentially as a result of that incident. If we do not do something soon, then there will be no future for this company."

Hammond listened to what he had to say and slowly digested all of that information.

"And what do you feel should be done?" he asked next.

"What any company would do in a similar situation, find a new avenue to display our products," responded the nephew dispassionately. Jurassic Park San Diego was about only a month away from completion and in the meantime they could easily host smaller events there with the tamer dinosaurs to easily begin increasing their revenue stream and get the funds necessary to complete construction. With that money, they could do more than just break ground on Jurassic Park Europe and actually get it up and running and in time perhaps find a way of reviving Isla Nublar.

But they needed to get started soon before they completely ran out of available funds. Ludlow was just silently grateful that no major accidents had yet to befall Site B. If anything happened there, InGen might never recover.

"Assets," said Hammond, evidently fixated on that word. "Is that all they are…all that they ever were?"

Ludlow narrowed his eyes at this new direction the conversation had taken.

"We made them, we patented them, we own them," Ludlow quoted as he had during numerous meetings trying to get investors on board. They had a patent filed with the United States Government regarding their intellectual property which is what they classified the dinosaurs as in order to ensure protection of investments.

"Yes, but in thinking that way, are we not downplaying the fact that these are living creatures with wills of their own?" Hammond asked softly. That finally cinched it in Ludlow's mind, something had happened on Nublar to his uncle and clearly he was not in the right mind set to be discussing the future of his company.

"We'll talk about this later after you've had more time to cope with your ordeal," said Ludlow speaking his thoughts aloud as he gathered his things together. The last thing he needed right now was a conversation that both of them would regret.

"But we haven't finished," began Hammond as Ludlow moved towards the door. "This is a conversation that we need to have."

Ludlow paused at the doorway for a moment. "Perhaps it will someday. But until then, I won't let you destroy this company. We've worked far too hard to lose everything now."

And with that he was gone leaving Hammond once more alone with this thoughts in that empty room…similar to his time in a similar dining area on Isla Nublar before a conversation with Ellie Sattler had made him open his eyes for the first time in a long time about the things he had done in the pursuit of the impossible.

* * *

Isla Sorna: Jake and Carly were happily serving themselves some burgers and fries from the buffet table before joining their friends at a nearby table. The dining area was almost filled to capacity at the request of Sam as he requested as many workers make it as possible to hear him address InGen's current situation and those that couldn't were watching via CCTV being displayed from the security cameras.

"Hey Bobbie, what's new?" asked Carly as she took her seat. Sorna's resident MD, Dr. Roberta 'Bobbie' Carter, was examining a long document while not really paying attention to her food.

"Oh, the usual, living on money I haven't earned yet in a five o'clock world," she began before putting down her notes and stretching. "That and writing up medical reports and journal articles that will never see the light of day because they deal with human encounters with animals that have been dead for over sixty-five million years. Good ol' InGen non-disclosure agreements."

"Hey, no one forced you to take this job," Jake told her.

"That's true. But when you're working in a small clinic in Costa Rica desperately wishing it would stop raining so you can spend some time on the beach only to have an InGen helicopter drop in on you during a storm bringing a man with severe cuts and bruises along with suffering from severe poisoning and then that person dies on you and is then whisked away along with your camera, you realize that's not something you can just let slide," Bobbie quipped, remembering how she'd been recruited into the program.

The past: Back in 1989, she'd been the closest doctor at the nearest Costa Rican clinic to Sorna after that worker had been attacked by a dilophosaur where she first met Ed Regis who was concerned about liability over the incident and Jake who had come along out of concern for the worker.

It was for the whole strangeness of the incident that she couldn't shake it from her mind. The two had arrived in an InGen helicopter during a stormy day and had come in with a severely injured worker who also seemed to be suffering from some type of poison. Ed Regis had claimed the incident was due to a construction accident involving workplace chemicals when asked by her, but when she was resting for a moment after fighting to save the worker for a couple of hours that she overhead him and Jake feverishly arguing in a nearby room with the scientist insisting he had no prior knowledge that the 'dilo' could do what it did. Between that and the severe cuts and lacerations all over the man's body was all the evidence she needed that this individual had been attacked by an animal. And then she had found the smoking gun in the form of a tooth that she'd managed to extract from part of a series of wounds that clearly looked like a bite mark.

Unfortunately, as a combination of the trauma the worker had endured and the poison, she'd been unable to save the man and he passed away still in a state of severe pain. Against her protests about the need for an autopsy, Ed Regis had subsequently had the man's corpse placed back on the helicopter and secretly also taken her camera that she'd used to photograph the worker for later analysis. Then he and Jake were gone just as mysteriously back on the helicopter into the storm.

Given that the clinic was located at a small villa meant that she had plenty of free time on her hands and she couldn't let go of wondering what had happened to the worker. She'd done as much research as she could into the word 'dilo' but found little to nothing and her only other evidence was the tooth that she wasn't even sure who to send it to. Beyond that, all she had to go on were her hastily written notes and she wished she had her camera so she could at least look at the photos and compared the bite marks to what existed in the records. Bobbie also knew that going to InGen would've been futile without any solid idea about what had really happened to the worker as they'd just deny everything.

After a few days of no results and about ready to give up on the search, she was then stunned when a man named Gutierrez had arrived from San Jose and mentioned that he had specifically come to talk about her encounter with the InGen personnel. She offered what information she could, keeping quiet about the tooth, and then asked what Gutierrez felt was really going on. He mentioned that he felt InGen was violating OSHA laws and was investigating into it, but Bobbie could tell there was something more going on that he wasn't admitting to.

The man thanked her for her time and was about to leave when his mobile phone rang. He then excused himself out the front as Bobbie snuck out the back and ran around the building to try and listen in. Although most of what she heard Gutierrez mention in his phone conversation made no sense to her, one sentence stuck out: 'yes, I believe a dinosaur was involved'. That statement really threw her for a loop and she spent the next week or so torn between thinking she was involved in some elaborate hoax versus there actually being living dinosaurs somewhere where InGen was working. When the week was up, she was in San Jose for a medical conference and as soon as she finished, she made a beeline for the library and grabbed all the dinosaur books she could find and feverishly tore through them.

After getting odd stares from patrons and staff at the intensity through pouring through children's books and adult books on the subject, she was about ready to give up and figure she'd been played for a fool, until she found a brief reference in an index at the back of a book.

"Dilophosaurus," she had said aloud reading the description in English from Spanish. "An early carnivore of the Jurassic era. Although little is understood about this creature, it is strong suspected that this animal…is poisonous with the ability to spit venom at its prey causing blindness and eventually paralysis. Oh, no…."

Reading that last line with images of the worker in her mind and the agony and pain he had gone through caused her to feel extremely sick to her stomach. She then looked through a second book about companies operating in Costa Rica.

"InGen Bioengineering. Founded in 1979 by millionaire John Hammond. Genetics Company. …Genetics Company," she began as the gears began turning in her head. "Slogan: 'We Make Your Future'."

She leaned back in her chair as the pieces fell into the place and a strange sense of calm fell over her.

"We make the future…we recreate the past," she said softly, amazed she had put all the pieces together from a few hour encounter with a dying worker and two enigmatic individuals. All she needed was to match the tooth and by sheer coincidence a dilophosaur skull was resting in a nearby museum. Holding up the tooth to the skull had been both a terrifying and relieving prospect as the tooth in her hand was brand new when compared to the fossilized tooth on the skull.

That cinched it and the next day she went to InGen's Costa Rica location with an envelope in her hand. Inside was the dilophosaur tooth, a photocopy of the dilophosaur entry from the book, and a picture of the skull. She then had a small note written to accompany it. 'I know everything and you owe me a new camera' followed by her signature. She gave it to the front door secretary and said it was Ed Regis and subsequently left.

A couple months passed and she never heard anything and then her contracted time at the Costa Rican clinic ended and she prepared to move back to the States to find a new job. Entering that kind of rat race was not something she was particularly looking forward to, but she knew she had to find something. As she said her goodbyes to the staff there, she was then hauling out her stuff to a nearby jeep when an InGen helicopter rocketed overhead and landed nearby. From the helicopter emerged Ed Regis in his suit and he immediately walked right up to her.

"Hello again, Ms. Carter, it's a pleasure to see you," he said with a jovial smile as he extended his hand. Bobbie shook it and then crossed her arms.

"I take it you got my message," she stated. Ed nodded his head.

"Yes and I'm sorry for not being able to respond sooner, but InGen is involved in a major project right now and I couldn't get away," he said apologetically. Bobbie raised an eyebrow at that.

"You came here all the way to tell me this?" she asked doubtful.

"Ha, ha, no," he said in agreement. "I understand that you're currently looking for work. I just thought I'd let you know that InGen has a rather lucrative opportunity for an MD with your qualifications. If you're interested."

Bobbie clearly hadn't expected this conversation, but it was a golden opportunity to investigate and find out the truth. "What can you tell me about the position?" she asked.

"It's one of a kind," said Ed with a big smile. "If you'd be willing, I'd love to show you around where you might be working."

"Of course," said Bobbie, still at a loss that this was happening. She'd expected to be threatened by InGen, not be given the royal treatment. And so she boarded the helicopter and it headed south to an island with creatures beyond her imagining. She realized then and there that this was an opportunity that couldn't be passed up and so she'd taken the job right away.

The present: Unfortunately, that job required a non-disclosure agreement to be signed, which is why all of her work could never see the light of day until after Jurassic Park was opened. She certainly loved her job and the location, but whenever she needed outside tests done, she could never admit to the circumstances that necessitated them in the first place. For example she couldn't explain why she needed toxicology reports for venom that was unknown to any database or why she couldn't explain to her colleagues why she needed to know the best way to stitch up wounds and stop internally bleeding that was caused by a six-inch long razor sharp blade. Bobbie also couldn't answer why she was generating all sorts of unusual requests for incidents that were taking place on what was supposedly a trio of islands where a tropical resort was being built. Whenever she met her friends back in the States, she couldn't tell them what she was up to either, only that InGen had hired her and she was constantly working. Hence why she had dozens of journal articles she'd typed up that would make her the envy of the medical world, but could only proofread them again and again until her eyes hurt.

"Hey, I'm much the same way," Lori emphasized. "Though I can at least tell my colleagues about my new designs for streamlining genetic engineering technology, but I can't say what InGen is trying to do with it."

"And me too," said Jake glumly before he brightened up. "Oh wait, I can. All my colleagues are here working on this island!"

Carly punched him hard in the shoulder for that to save Lori and Bobbie the trouble. But such conversations were part of their daily routine if they happened to be at dinner together and they enjoyed it. On an island full of dinosaurs, it was the only normalcy they really had.

"Hi, guys," said Henry approaching the table with his food as well. "I take it we're past the part where Jake got hit."

"Yeah," Carly agreed as Jake rubbed his tender shoulder. "So what's up, I'd have figured you'd be here before us."

"I had to talk to Sam about a couple things," Henry admitted. "One, Gerry finally turned up and he'll be here in a few days. The other is that Samantha's planning on coming down here at the end of the next week as an emissary from the board."

"Better her than Ludlow," Lori snorted. Either way the conversation wouldn't be good but at least Samantha was more sympathetic to them.

"Looks like Sam's about to start, better brace yourselves," Jake remarked cutting in. All the conversation around the dining area came to a halt as the head of Sorna got up to the podium.

"Hello everyone, I guess there's really no doubt about why we're all here tonight," he began. "I'm sorry we weren't able to let you know the truth about what's going on until now, but it's taken us this long to put together all the pieces. So there's really no avoiding it any longer. There was an incident at Jurassic Park. The fences failed and people died."

The group went into an uproar at that for several moments before Sam held up his hand to calm them down so he could continue speaking.

That's all in the past now. What matters is the future and this is what the senior staff is proposing for changes to help us survive…"


	8. A Thorny Situation

Next morning, Isla Sorna: "That could've gone better," Jake remarked offhand as he sat at a staff meeting with Henry, Lori, Bobbie, Nicolette, and Sam. There had been quite a loud uproar after Sam officially announced what had happened to Jurassic Park and the changes they were going to implement on Site B accordingly and it had only died down after everyone got too tired to keep arguing. That and they all knew that Sam was only a messenger and just trying to watch out for everyone by making changes in the first place.

"And you didn't help matters either," Bobbie accused of Nicolette. Nikki bristled at that comment.

"They asked me for a genuine appraisal of InGen's situation and I gave them one," she responded harshly as if she had done nothing wrong. "I choose not to sugar coat things because that can only lead to problems in the long run if the truth ends up sounding much worse. I also warned them that it was only an answer based on what little information I had. If they took it badly, that's their problem."

Sam grumbled something at that but didn't make an actual statement about her increasingly negative attitude about things. But such an attitude was nothing out of the ordinary for her and they just had to grin and bear it because they couldn't make hiring or firing decisions based on the secrecy of the islands. Only Samantha could do that and she was in San Diego and technically Nicolette had done nothing wrong.

"What's done is done, so now we have to move on," he finally declared. "Jake, Lori, Henry, I know the plan is to keep Embryonics Administration and the egg production plants online, but if you could determine a minimum work output so we can divert the extra energy elsewhere so we can use less fuel, I'd appreciate it."

"Will do," said Lori jotting down some notes for later.

"Bobbie, with all the craziness going on, I feel as though we're neglecting you. Is there anything you need or want to say?" asked Sam. Bobbie shrugged lightly.

"I'm well stocked with supplies and thankfully accidents around here have been few and far between as of late. That being said, if those fences go down then that will change real fast," she replied. "Right now I'm trying to get my staff ready in case that day ever comes."

"Nicolette, what've you got as far as preliminary analyses regarding power failure?" asked Sam next. Nicolette looked over her notes.

"I'll spare you the complicate statistical analyses and just simply say that with the current fuel consumption along with current supplies assuming no replenishment that the fences will fail in approximately ninety seven days," she said as looks of dread fell over the rest in the room. "The first fences to go will be the farthest ones from the power generators and then encroach inwards until they're all gone. The time between the first fence failing and the last will be seven hours. Following complete failure, it stands to reason that the Velociraptors, Deinonychosaurs, Dimetrodons, and Tyrannosaurus Rexes will be the first to break free of their enclosures within a couple hours following that."

"Not the Spino?" asked Jake a little surprised.

"The bars around its enclosure were specifically designed to stop it from escaping even in the case of complete power failure," Nicolette reminded him. "In time, with repeated attempts to break free and the natural aging of the fences themselves, it could very well escape, but that would not be for at least a few months to a year. I also do not see the pterodactyls escaping their enclosure either for that matter unless the cage is unlocked."

Sam nodded his head at that. "I'm also looking into what power we could save by laying out electric tracks and using the tour vehicles we have. Tim assures me it would be pretty simple to put in new destinations once the track is initialized in the system."

"And none of what happened the last time?" Lori asked, needing reassurance.

"He said they pretty much got the OS fixed on Nublar. There might be some small problems with grinding gears and lights, but no runaway tour vehicles," Sam replied as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Speaking of Tim, he's now basically the de facto lead of the programming team with Sheila now second in command," Henry pointed out. "So shouldn't he be at these meetings?"

"I suppose. But for now I'm not really sure what he'd get out of them. The control room needs to stay operational no matter what happens," Sam said dismissively. "Beyond just this meeting, we're going to have departmental breakouts with the supervisors who will then breakout with their subordinates to again try and limit our power usage as much as possible. That is our top priority right now."

"Not the inspection?" asked Lori perplexed. Sam shook his head.

"If we have to worry about that, it'll be later. All the waxing and polishing in the world won't mean jack if the fences go down," said Sam. "And as much as I'd like to prolong this meeting, we really do need to meet with our departments to try and prevent panic from breaking out. So unless anyone has anything else, you're dismissed."

The rest of the members slowly filed out leaving Sam and alone with his thoughts before he too collected his notes and went to go meet up with the laborer supervisors.

* * *

Control Room: Tim and Sheila were sitting around a central terminal as they watched the video feed from the conference room. The control room was a small cramped space in the basement of the Operations Building. A central terminal along with two rows of computers squeezed together with several servers adorning the room and cables everywhere and a lone projector hanging on the ceiling filled the room almost completely. Sorna had far less automation than Nublar and so the processing power was also considerably less hence not needing as much space. Not that Sheila and Tim liked where they were holed up when compared to Jurassic Park's spacious and modern facilities. They were the two full-time programmers and the other spaces were often filled with temps borrowed from HQ and originally Ray Arnold.

"See, they are trying to cut us out of the loop!" Sheila insisted as she had some of her yogurt.

"Ah, you're just overreacting," Tim told her as he flipped off the feed and then went back to rooting through the computer's codes.

"I'm telling you, this is just the start. They'll start making crazy demands on us and not paying us overtime and then….," she began before noticing what he was doing. "What's going on, I don't remember them assigning you to go rooting through the code for this island."

"They didn't and this isn't the code for Sorna, it's the remote feed so I can look at the code from Nublar," Tim explained as he continued looking through the data in front of him.

"What're you looking for? I thought we already got the tour OS downloaded," said Sheila confused. Tim looked around nervously to see if anyone else was in the room.

"Can you keep a secret?" he asked to Sheila. Her eyes widened at that and she nodded her head vigorously.

"Nedry was responsible for causing the security systems to fail on Jurassic Park. That means he had a backdoor somewhere buried in the code to do that. If he had it there, then he might've had that same code put in here. I need to find out what that code was and delete it out of here before it potentially causes chaos here as well," Tim answered. "I've got a tracer program working on finding commands to deactivate the security systems but it'll take awhile to run so I'm looking in directories where I think it could be hiding in the meantime."

"Ooh," said Sheila as the light turned on in her head. "We find it and then we can hold all the cards!"

"What? No!" shouted Tim astonished at her suggestion before he forced himself to think about it. "…Well, maybe. Maybe that code would benefit the island somehow, I don't know. But I want to see what that command is supposed to do first of all. I also don't want to cause a panic so don't tell anybody, okay? We're on pins and needles as it is with the fences running out of juice and the last thing we need is everyone thinking what happened to Site A could potentially happen here at Site B. Okay?"

"Right on," said Sheila with a big grin.

"Now get back to work!" Tim commanded. "Just because I'm in charge doesn't mean you can slack off!"

Sheila fake pouted at that before going back to working on the programming of the island.

* * *

Cambridge, Massachusetts: At an old townhouse apartment, a large oak wooden door opened into a room full of dust. Inside walked a landlord along with a team of four individuals.

"You sure he won't find out about this?" asked the Landlord of the tenant who lived in the place.

"No," John Brown responded while shaking his head. "Besides, you can open this place for tours and that's what we want. If Arnold Nedry doesn't like that, he can complain to me."

He then took out a series of bills and handed them to the landlord who looked at them gratefully and then made his exit, only requesting that they lock the door when leaving. As soon as the door shut, the three team members from Pacific Pharmaceuticals began setting up their gear. Two of them immediately began combing the place for evidence, a task impeded by how messy the place was, while the third sat down at Nedry's workstation and squatted underneath the desk to get a look at his hard drives and servers.

"I think the on button is at the front of the terminal," John joked as he picked up a copy of Alice and Wonderland that was sitting on a special holder on the shelf.

"Just making sure he didn't booby trap it," the team computer expert, Cassie, answered. "Based on that profile you read to us on the flight over here that Lorne compiled, I wouldn't put it past this guy to cover his tracks any way possible."

John nodded his head in agreement at that as he let her continue to work. He then looked at the other two workers.

"Anything?" he asked. The others shrugged noncommittally.

"This guy didn't like Hammond," one said as the pointed to a dartboard with a piece of paper featuring the CEOs face taped onto it and some darts through it. Below it the message read: "Pay me more now, dad?" Evidently Nedry really had a dim view of the CEO.

"You ever meet him?" asked the worker and then in clarification pointed to Hammond's image.

"Once at a city function," John replied as he began flipping through the book in his hands. "He's a nice enough man, but I got the impression he tends to focus too much on the destination and not on the journey."

"Wow, I didn't know you were a psychologist, boss," said Cassie with a grin as she produced a small device and plugged it into the back of the server. John groaned at that before finishing flipping through the book and putting it back as a piece of paper fell out the back. Leaning over to pick it up, he saw an ASCII image of a rabbit using 0s and 1s. He looked at it confused before folding it and putting it in his jacket pocket for further reference.

"Got it," said Cassie as she powered up the terminal and sat at the desk and began working on logging into the computer.

"Booby trapped?" asked John walking over and pulling up a chair.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Cassie said, wiping some sweat off of her forehead. "But fixing it so I could turn it on without it blanking the data was the easy part. Using the actual software is going to be more of a challenge. Nedry may have been a slob, but he knew how to program."

Cassie cracked her knuckles and plugged a floppy disk into the drive that had wires leading to a smaller device that she began using along with the larger terminal itself.

"We just need to dump whatever data we can about any possible dealings he may have had with Biosyn," John requested and then went to join the other two in searching the room for clues.

Nearby: A car sat across the street and a man in it peered through his binoculars at the apartment. He jotted down some notes and pulled out a mobile phone and began dialing into it.

"What is it, Howard?" asked Lew Dodgson on the other end.

"It's as you suspected, Pacific Pharmaceuticals is making its move," Howard King, Dodgon's assistant, told him. He was met with silence as Dodgson contemplated this turn of events.

"Then we'll need to make sure they find nothing else," Dodgson replied and hung up the phone. At his office, the biophysicist pulled out a file he had prepared in case something went wrong with Nedry and began consulting it on their next move. John Brown was no slouch when it came to finding out the truth, but Dodgson was the king of avoiding blame. He would win this battle, he was sure of it.

* * *

Palo Alto, California: At a large plant designed to manufacture vehicles and other equipment need for scientists operating in the field, its owner Jack 'Doc' Thorne sat conversing with his workers about some of the new specs for a mobile research lab that consisted of two trailers joined together by a connecting arm codenamed 'Challenger'. As soon as he finished, the workers dispersed to get to work.

"Hey, Doc, what's new?" asked Eddie Carr, Thorne's second in command in charge of the facility. He was a middle-aged slightly balding man, but an expert when it came to devising field systems.

"Oh, hey, Eddie, how'd the field tests go?" asked Thorne curious. Eddie held up the device in his hand along with a mobile phone.

"Good to go. As long as the phone is active and properly synched, the tracker can find it within a hundred mile distance," said his assistant pleased with himself. If there was one thing Eddie was a stickler for, it was field testing. After all, if you put untested technology into practical situations and it failed to work, then you'd be in for a considerable amount of trouble.

"I'm sure Sarah will be pleased to hear that," said Thorne as he headed for his office. Sarah Harding was an old friend of the two as she constantly came to them whenever she needed. This tracking device was actually one of her ideas as she was constantly misplacing her backpack in the field and always having to look for it. With her phone inside, she could now always track it down.

"So what's this I hear about Dr. Levine needing you for some mission?" asked Eddie curious as the two entered into Thorne's office high above the central staging area for the building of equipment. Thorne gave an impression of having a bad taste in his mouth as he sat behind his desk. Although the company was private, Levine had invested a large portion of money to get it off the ground for Thorne. As such, he occasionally made the odd request for compensation for his troubles.

"Apparently InGen had an incident of some sort on an island in the Pacific Ocean and Levine's been contacted to go in and investigate another one of their islands to see if it is safe. There's a lot of technology on that island and he needs me to check it out," Thorne commented. "Of course I'm going to do my damndest to turn him down, but I don't think he'll hear it."

"What sort of technology?" asked Eddie. He loved examining new technology.

"Well…," began Thorne as he turned around and pulled a file from his cabinet and began rattling off various pieces of technology from vehicles to buildings to gene sequencers to electrified fences.

"What are they doing on that island?" Eddie asked bewildered. Thorne held his hands up in defeat.

"No idea and I don't think I'll want to find out," he told him as he propped his feet up on the desk. "I don't suppose you could go in my place?"

Eddie chuckled at that. "I'd love to if I could. But I'm already full of devices that need to be field tested and then sold off or mass marketed. I can't, I'm sorry. But look on the bright side. Whatever they're paying you we could easily put into Research and Development."

Thorne had to nod his head at that for being a reasonable suggestion. There was a knock at the door and Levine poked his head in.

"Well?" he asked, hopeful. Levine wasn't really one for small talk. Thorne shot a look at Eddie who gave him an apologetic look as Thorne sighed heavily and rubbed his face.

"Fine, I'll go," he relented.

"Great! We leave at the end of next week," said Levine with a big grin and he vanished from the room. Thorne leaned back heavily in his chair as he felt a migraine came on as Eddie laughed at his misfortune despite himself. Thorne immediately began reaching for the aspirin.

* * *

Indigo: Daniela was typing up some reports to send to San Diego about how her island had taken the news when she told them Jurassic Park had had an incident, when a knock was heard at her door.

"Enter," she said as her secretary poked her head in.

"Your appointment is here," she stated and then left. Daniela immediately shifted her attention to the door as a worker entered into the room.

"Hello ma'am," said the worker a little nervous as he squeezed his hat in his hands.

"Hello Mr. Stevens, please take a seat," Daniela said as she motioned to the chair on the other side of the desk. She pulled out his personnel file and laid it on her desk and glanced through it.

"I see you've been working for us for three months now," she noted. "How've you been adjusting to working out here so far away from home?"

Stevens blinked at that, curious. "It's really not been too difficult. I mean, yes, I'm only allowed to go home every other weekend, but I'm paid well so I can't complain."

Daniela nodded her head at that. It was a common complaint amongst the laborers about the inability to constantly see friends and family, but they'd known that when they'd signed the contracts and it was also why InGen had offered higher wages to them than normal. The question was, whether this worker had received any additional income from an outside source regarding Nedry and his passage through Indigo.

"Is something the matter?" asked the worker. Daniela crossed her hands in front of her face.

"Five days ago you were responsible for checking Arnold Nedry's belongings as he passed through customs," she remarked. The worker thought about that and then nodded his head.

"Yes, and he was unhappy about it as usual," Stevens agreed. Daniela leaned forward at that comment.

"So you do you see Nedry through customs regularly," she stated. She knew of course already, but that wasn't the point of the question.

"Unfortunately," Stevens answered noncommittally. "But yes, I do."

"By choice or…?" began Daniela curious.

"I'm the new guy, the new guys gets saddled with checking Nedry's and Nicolette's things when they came through," said Stevens a little amused though also fed up with that notion. "If you hired someone new so they could do that, I would not complain."

"Well we'll see," said Daniela with a mild smile to try and be disarming. She had hoped the answer would've been more useful than that. "Tell me, how were you hired?"

"InGen was looking for day laborers on the San Diego docks and I applied," said Stevens even more confused. "Can I ask what this is all about?"

"I wish you could," said Daniela dismissively. "But let's focus back to Nedry, you checked his stuff his last time through. Tell me about that."

Stevens didn't want to move on, but Daniela was his ultimate boss and so he did as he was told.

"He came through with a bunch of stuff and I cleared him," was all he could think to say.

"Did he seem nervous at all?" asked Daniela next.

"He seemed more obnoxious than usual and I guess more nervous. But the tour was coming up and I'd say we were all on edge at the time," Stevens reasoned. "Probably more so now after what you said happened."

"When you went through his things did you notice anything unusual?" Daniela continued.

"Not that I can recall," said Stevens simply. "Was there something? I just remember a bunch of technical journals, candy and I think a can of shaving cream."

"Did the can work?" asked Daniela trying to sound nonchalant now that the conversation had gotten to where she needed it to.

"Yeah," said Stevens nodding his head as he thought about his encounter with Nedry. "You know, now that I think about it the weight on the thing did seem a little bit off. But some contents may have shifted during the course of the flight, as they say."

Daniela instantly focused on the man after that statement.

"You know that if there's even a hint of suspicion that you should x-ray all of the item's contents," Daniela told him.

"I know," said Stevens as if that was obvious. "I'm well aware of the rules."

"So did you scan Nedry's things?" Daniela demanded. To think that one small slipup may have cost them everything was the one event she had made sure the workers were trained hard to avoid.

"No," said Stevens bluntly.

"Why not?" shouted Daniela suddenly irate. Stevens blinked at that, surprised by her anger and then dropped a bombshell that took the leader of Indigo for a loop.

…

"I was told not to," he answered. Daniela's jaw dropped at that.

"By who?" asked Daniela in shock over this turn of events.

"My line supervisor," Stevens answered. "I told him that I thought something might be off with the can, but he told me to push it through and let Nedry leave. So he went and I thought nothing more of it."

Daniela sat back at that.

"You didn't think to report that decision to anyone else?" she asked lamely, knowing what the answer would be.

"All line supervisors report to you and I didn't think it was worth the trouble. I'm not sure why you're so focused on a can of shaving cream. It worked and I really didn't have much other reason to hold him," said Stevens, giving her the answer she was expecting.

"Can you prove all of this?" asked Daniela next.

"Check the security cams," Stevens requested. Daniela nodded her head at that as her mind was too much focused on other things. If there was any hint of suspicion, the contents had to x-rayed, that was SOP. But the line supervisors had been known to exercise some leeway with those rules. The question was, why here and why now. That this particular leeway had resulted in Nedry potentially taking an unauthorized device onto Nublar was far too coincidental in her mind.

She needed to look into this further than she had initially thought she would. Just like she needed to find out who had authorized the mass exodus of personnel from Nublar during the tour.

"Ma'am?" asked Stevens after she had not said anything for several moments. Daniela refocused her attention on him.

"You're free to go, but tell no one of this conversation," she ordered. Stevens nodded and happily left the room, glad the conversation was over. Daniela just wished the same was true for her. She had a lot of work to do to get to the bottom of all of this.

* * *

Cambridge: "Got it," said Cassie pleased. She shut down the computer and unplugged her portable terminal.

"You dumped the entire database?" John asked. Cassie nodded.

"I'll need to work on it when we get back to base because it's still heavily encrypted and still full of traps, but there I'll have more tools at my disposal," she said. John nodded, also happy with this turn of events as he looked to the other two who had finished combing the entire apartment.

"Let's go," he ordered. The other two nodded and headed for the exit with John and Cassie. As they left, they shut the door and then descended down the steps to the roadway as a car hastily left from a nearby spot and drove off.

"You think Biosyn knows what we're doing?" asked one of the team members as they headed for their SUV.

"Undoubtedly," said John watching the car go.

"You think they'll be able to stop us?" asked Cassie. John gave an evil grin at that.

"Unlikely," he promised with a chuckle as they got into the vehicle and drove off back to the nearest Pacific Pharmaceuticals location.

* * *

Sorna: "Now you're sure there's no breeding going on?" Jake asked. He and Henry were in the Control Room talking to Tim after their meeting. There really hadn't been much to say at their breakout only that they needed to cut back on production and also in attempt to get their minds off of InGen's troubles, that they needed to figure out if the dinosaurs were breeding or not.

"You designed them, you tell me," Tim retorted as Sheila chuckled in the background. Jake narrowly avoided rolling his eyes at that as Henry tried a new tactic.

"Can you pull up the latest motion tracker numbers for here and Nublar?" Henry asked. Tim nodded and fired them up. The far wall displayed an image from the projector and Henry and Jake walked up to it. The chart was laid out in five columns with the first column indicating the dinosaur names while the second and third column indicated the expected number of dinosaurs along with the found number. Those columns descriptions were then repeated again for columns four and five, the difference being columns two and three had Nublar's numbers and four and five had Sorna's. Nublar's numbers naturally didn't match due to predators being on the loose hunting the herbivores and some areas were blank for animals that didn't exist on Nublar but did on Sorna.

"As you can see, there is not one instance of a number being higher than what's expected," Tim concluded as if it was an open and shut case. In his mind it was. Technology like the motion trackers had been specifically designed not to make a mistake because of how important population control was when dealing with dinosaurs. Jake looked at the numbers with a mixture of doubt and cluelessness. He didn't understand the technology, he never had. His job was to find out how to make dinosaurs and that was it. Henry didn't know how the technology worked either. But as far as the other scientists were concerned they dinosaurs couldn't breed and this was wild goose chase. Only he was willing to harbor some agreement with Jake that something could be amiss that they didn't know about.

"How difficult would it be to do a spot check of all the dinosaurs on the island?" Henry had to ask. Tim laughed at that.

"Difficult? Try impossible. We've got more than two hundred dinosaurs on this island and they're constantly moving around. Even distinguishing one from the next is pretty near impossible," the programmer replied. "Sure we've got the tracker chips inside each one, but that still won't help you keep track of which is which after you've scanned it."

"Unless we found one that wouldn't scan," Jake said. Tim shook his head.

"Not if the chip's busted or offline," he answered. "We've had some of that already which is why we've been upgrading all chips on the dinos being sent to Nublar."

An idea occurred to Henry on hearing that. "Could we do a spot check and compare the chip numbers on Nublar with the results from the motion trackers?"

Tim had to think about that one for a moment. He hadn't really been responsible for either of the two programs.

"It wouldn't work because the range on those chips only extends so far," Sheila answered for him. "The chips were designed in case we had to track one down if it ever got loose. It wasn't intended as a backup in case the motion sensors failed. That's why it took us awhile to track down that oviraptor on Indigo and…well I guess I don't need to bring up A-1."

Very few people knew about A-1 but Sheila did because she'd designed the tracker to find the chips which is how the team had tracked down the Deinonychosaurs in Costa Rica. It had taken them several days in the jungle before they'd gotten a signal to follow and by the time they honed in, it was too late.

"Nuts," said Jake disappointed as he rubbed his face. "Are these numbers tracked over time?"

"Yeah, but the problem with Nublar's numbers is that we lost a good number of the backed up data thanks to the reset," Tim told him. "And before you ask, those numbers are of the currently living and breathing creatures. The trackers can't find ones that are dead and on occasion, asleep."

"Don't forget that some of the Nublar trackers might not be working after that storm, the reset, and all the chaos that ensued," Sheila chimed in from her workstation. Jake sighed at that, still thinking there should be some way to use the trackers to find out if there were more dinosaurs than there should be. But he didn't know where to begin with this technology.

"Back to the drawing board, checking the gene sequences," he complained. Henry gave him lightly patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.

"I know," he agreed and the two left the room after thanking Tim for his help.

"Well we dodged that bullet," said Sheila after they left. Tim looked at her confused.

"At least they didn't tell us to find a way of figuring out if the dinosaurs were breeding with the motion trackers," she added. A smile cracked across Tim's face.

"Maybe they didn't, but I'm assigning you that task anyway," he ordered as Sheila's expression turned to shock. She then grumbled something and went to work trying to wrap her head around accomplishing that task.

"I hate you," she said after a few moments. Tim laughed at that.

"I know," he responded wistfully and went back to work rooting through more directories. The two sat in silence for several moments working.

"You wanna go get some lunch?" asked Sheila a moment later, her previous statement seemingly having never been made.

"Yeah," said Tim and the two left the room.

* * *

InGen HQ, San Diego: The Board reconvened again to further discuss the fate of their company.

"So the investigation team is prepped?" asked Stevenson, one of the board members. Ludlow nodded his head.

"I also contacted a local defense firm and they'll provide us with armed workers to defend the team and they don't ask questions," he added. He then shifted uneasily as the conversation he'd had the night before with his uncle weighed heavily on his mind.

"Something wrong?" asked Samantha concerned. Ludlow leaned forward and said something he knew his uncle would never forgive him before.

"Based on the testimony from the survivors of Nublar, and the satellite photos we've recently secured that I'll be showing to you, I already don't believe the island can be recovered," he said hesitantly, not even able to meet their eyes.

"You mean…?" began Samantha in a hushed tone. Ludlow nodded his head looking at the board now and gave the answer they'd all been anticipating and dreading at the same time.

"We have no choice. We're going to liquidate Jurassic Park,"


	9. Making Headway

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: "But where we will get the funds to pay for such an operation?" asked the chief accountant.

"Simple, by cutting off all supplies to Indigo and Sorna effective immediately," Ludlow responded. A murmur broke out over the board upon hearing that.

"Without fuel the fences will fail," Samantha said as if that should be obvious.

"You said they can survive three months and you're going to Sorna to try and extend that," Ludlow insisted. "I would love to be able to deal with our current and future problems now, but we do not have the resources or the funds to do so. Jurassic Park is an out of control problem that needs to be dealt with now, not later."

That much was true and even Samantha couldn't argue with that.

"Well I suppose we could up our timetable of merging the staff of the two islands and just Indigo as a warehouse," the accountant figured to Samantha's dismay. "That would solve the fuel problem for a few more months."

"Not quite," said Ludlow reluctantly. "We need to resell Indigo's fuel supplies to generate the additional funds we'll need."

Samantha threw down her pen at that. "Oh this just keeps getting better and better."

"We have no choice," said Ludlow. "But as compensation, we'll leave the timeline merger as it is. The fuel they'll have when the merger is complete will be enough for us to get by."

"Good," said Samantha. To go to Sorna and explain the merger would be one thing, but telling them it would be happening that day would be another matter entirely.

"But back to liquidating Jurassic Park after the investigation is through. Here's what where I propose…," Ludlow began as he flipped the projector and began showing them a slideshow.

Sorna, A couple days later: Jake and Henry were sitting at one of the tables in the Operations Building mess hall pouring over notebooks, charts, and binders full of data on the dinosaur cloning sequence. Normally they'd have been doing this back at Embryonics Administration, but lately a funk had fallen over the place and it was getting harder and harder to stay focused. Ray Arnold and Robert Muldoon had been good friends and it was hard to imagine they were gone. Even Gennaro was somewhat missed although they usually never saw him, instead they only got irate phone calls about legal violations of some sort.

"I still don't see anything in the gene sequences that would account for a spontaneous sex change," said Henry throwing down one of the books in disgust. Jake dropped his head down on the table also defeated.

"What if there was a problem during the chromosome denial stage?" he asked. "A male could've accidentally been created. It happened all the time during the early days."

"Yeah and you know that we fixed that. I mean yes a male will occasionally pop up every now and then, but we've never sent one to Nublar. We eradicate them here as soon as they show up," Henry reminded him.

"Then where did that raptor come from!" shouted Jake.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Henry roared back. "Are you sure it didn't have an ID marking?"

"No, I swear it didn't," Jake insisted defeated. "Maybe I was seeing things because of the constant dino attacks and just being afraid of being on that island with no fences."

"Or maybe Hammond pulled a fast one again like when he showed his two grandchildren that baby triceratops," Henry recalled. That had almost been a PR disaster of epic proportions when Hammond had snuck an egg off Sorna one day to give his grandchildren a treat they'd never forget at one of his birthday celebrations. How Ludlow and Gennaro managed to salvage that situation, they had no clue, but Hammond had been grumpy for a few weeks afterward.

"I just wish we hadn't lost those numbers during the reset," Jake complained.

"Look, maybe our memory of what Muldoon said isn't right. That Raptor could've left three others alive during its killing frenzy and that particular Raptor had its ID tattoo trashed and it healed over. I don't think you looked at it closely enough to determine that," Henry figured.

"No, I guess you're right," Jake conceded as he sat back up. "I still would like to know for sure, though. Maybe there's something in the DNA interaction between the frog DNA and the dino DNA that might be causing some unforeseen effect."

"Or else do a DNA check on random samples," Henry said. "Not that I want to do that."

"Nor do I," Jake agreed. "It'd be hard enough to collect the samples we'd need and then someone would think we really did think the dinos were breeding and then we'd have a riot on our hands. Besides, if there' an answer it's in here with the code, not out there."

The two nodded and sat mulling the possibilities when a new arrival entered into the dining area.

"Gerry!" they both said enthusiastically at the long absent veterinarian, Gerry Harding.

"Hi guys," said the vet with a mild grin as they waved him over to their table.

"Where've you been, man?" Jake inquired. He waved off that question.

"Ah, don't ask it's a long story," he replied. "I hear a lot's been going on since I've been away."

"You have no idea," said Henry and the two began filling him in.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals HQ, San Diego: Cassie was typing away on her terminal trying to access Nedry's files as Serena showed off various devices capable of smuggling embryos to the others in the bay.

"Good work," said John amazed as he looked at the assortment of devices. All of them were small and wouldn't get a second glance from him if he didn't know what they were capable of. He held up a can of hairspray and pressed the nozzle on top and was slightly disappointed that no spray came out.

"I only had a handful of days to come up with these prototypes. But they could easily be filled with hairspray, water, or anything else to be made operational," Serena stated. John nodded and put the hairspray back down and looked at the others handling the different devices.

"Well I'd say Nedry probably wasn't one for hairspray," Lorne figured. John nodded and tossed the device into the trash bin for the compactor. Serena wasn't the least bit upset about the casually dismissal of something she'd worked days on, all she cared about was that one of them would be what they were looking for. Gradually they went down the list of items that had been developed and either approving them or disapproving them based on reports about Nedry's profile until they were left with one item.

"Shaving can," said John nodding his head as he held the device in his hands.

"It fits. Nedry was clean shaven," Serena remarked. She took the device from him and then unscrewed the bottom and revealed the embryo housing container.

"It's also not much to go on," John also stated. But the can did make the most sense because the can was colder than most other items and that would help to cover up the coolant's effects.

"You sure about this not fitting inside of a soda can?" asked Jeff curious. Serena shook her head.

"Not if you want fifteen or so embryos to fit in there and hope to have enough coolant to get it off the island," she told him. "Besides it's too risky, a soda can might easily be misplaced or accidentally tossed by the janitorial staff."

"Good enough," said John pleased that they'd found what they were looking for. "We're heading for San Jose next after we're done prepping here. That's where Nedry left a large deposit and I'm guessing that's also where he received that same amount from Biosyn."

The team nodded as John made his exit to go do other work for the company and the others went to do theirs as well.

Sorna: "Crazy," said Gerry over what had happened in his absence. "So what do you think will happen next?"

"Unknown," said Jake nonplussed. "But whatever, we'll worry about that when it comes. Right now we've got other things on our mind."

"Such as?" asked Gerry confused, not sure what else there was that hadn't been mentioned. Jake shot a glance to Henry for help, not wanting to reveal that they were concerned about the dino's breeding at this point in the game. Telling Sheila and Tim could easily be dismissed as speculation on their part if they were asked about it, but the same wouldn't be true if they flat out told Gerry.

"He just means the inspection," Henry said off the cuff, hoping Gerry bought it.

"Oh yeah," said the veterinarian nodding his head. "I'd better make sure all of my things are in order too with the rest of the staff."

He got up to leave to head for his base of operations when Henry called out to him.

"You figure out why the triceratops kept getting sick?" he asked. Gerry laughed at that.

"Yeah, gizzard stones," he answered. "The triceratops kept eating them to mash up their food and because they were so close to the lilac bushes, they kept getting into their system."

Jake and Henry nodded sagely at that, though their knowledge of animal eating habits was largely beyond them. Gerry tipped his head at them and exited the dining area. Jake and Henry shared a glance, wondering if keeping their suspicions from almost everyone else would help or hinder them in the long run. Either way, they needed to know the truth which is why once more they returned to their charts and diagrams. But before they could get very far, they were buzzed to meet Sam in his office. Gathering their things, they bustled in to find Lori already there and sitting on Sam's desk as the head of operations speaking to someone via the speaker phone.

"Hey, they just got in, so can you repeat that," he said into it.

"Hey Jake, Hey Henry, this is Daniela," the head of Indigo stated. "I thought you might like to know that a team of InGen investigators and about a dozen or so mercenaries just passed through here headed for Nublar."

"So Ludlow's made his first move," Jake growled. "And all without bothering to tell us first."

"We knew he would be sending in a team!" Sam snapped at him. "And from what you told me about your time over there, I think they're in for a lot of trouble."

"So we should be prepared to back them up?" asked Daniela.

"Exactly," her counterpart agreed. "I'm going to prep the DRT members so they'll be ready for immediate dust off if things go badly over there. Assuming we somehow find out in time."

"Good move," said Henry nodding his head. "The only question now is whether we'll get that report that they end up generating."

"Doubtful unless any of us are shareholders," Jake stated ruefully and then laughed darkly at that. "Good thing I sold almost all of my shares to John."

"Ha! So did I," said Henry bemused despite himself. "But what can I say, I didn't think the price he wanted for them would ever get passed by what I thought they'd be worth once Jurassic Park went public."

"Is that illegal?" Lori had to ask, even though she didn't know who this 'John' character was.

"Probably," they both admitted before Jake continued. "But I'm sure somewhere someone thinks creating dinosaurs is illegal. Which is why we're down here in Costa Rica and not sitting pretty back home in San Diego."

"I think the bigger question is what that report will convince Ludlow and the others to do about the Park," said Lori trying to get the conversation back on track.

"No choice, liquidation," said Jake immediately with Henry nodding his head in agreement.

"Why do you always assume the worst?" demanded Lori disgusted and then turned to Henry. "And why are you agreeing with him now?"

"I wish I could tell you, but there are some contingency plans that even you don't have knowledge of," answered Henry sympathetically though a shadow was clearly hovering over his face as he said that. Jake nodded his head as well as he heard that.

"Like what?" asked Lori doubtful while crossing her arms. "You can't mean the Lysine Contingency, everyone knows about that.

"You really don't want to know," said Jake simply. Sam cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Look, none of that really matters right now," he told them. "I just called you here to keep you guys in the loop. I'm going to have Tim and Sheila fire up the remote feed to Nublar so we can try and keep track of the investigation team. But until something comes up, you should all get back to work."

Jake and Henry tipped their heads and left with their work as Sam silently wondered what they were doing before shrugging that concern off for later. Lori looked at Sam silently begging to know what Jake and Henry were talking about but all she received was a silent headshake and so she left disgusted. As she slammed the door, the Head of Operations on Sorna sighed deeply as he looked at the phone knowing that Daniela was on the other end looking at hers as well.

"Do you think Ludlow would…," asked Daniela hesitantly, talking about the contingency plan Jake and Henry had just alluded to.

"I don't think Jurassic Park has enough specimens to warrant it," Sam figured before turning glum. "But we do and I really don't want to think about that right now."

"We don't have any choice. I'll need you, Jake, and Henry to review Project ELE when you have the time," Daniela ordered, finally referring to the contingency plan by name. "I'll be down to see you when Samantha and the inspection team come through, so we'll talk more then. I'm afraid I've got a lot of loose ends on my end right now"

"Yeah, how is your investigation going?" asked Sam curious. A silence was all he heard on the other end.

"Danni?" he asked, showing his concern by deliberately using her almost never used nickname to get her attention.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized, a little flustered. "I don't know, Sam. I was expecting a simple answer and all I've found are more questions. I'll let you know if I come up with anything more concrete."

From the tone of her voice as she said that, it sounded like she'd been losing sleep over the investigation into Nedry's final passage through her island.

"If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask," said Sam trying to be helpful. A hearty laugh greeted his hears at that as he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I didn't know you cared, Sam Stone," said Daniela said sweetly. Sam chuckled nervously at that as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Let's just say that when things finally hit the fan that I don't want to be the only one holding the bag," he admitted. Another chuckle was heard at that.

"I appreciate it. See you soon, Sam," Daniela promised. Sam nodded his head.

"Good luck with your investigation," he told her and then hung up the phone and then immediately picked it up and dialed the airfield.

"Jennifer's Jurassic Jets, if we don't deliver your dinosaur in more than thirty minutes its free," came the female voice on the other end with a goofy made up tagline. "What's up?"

"Can I talk to Kevin?" Sam requested. Jennifer called out to Kevin and a garbled response was heard along with a wrench hitting the floor.

"He's busy changing the hydraulic fluid on the Learjet, can he call you back?" Jennifer asked.

"No, that's alright," said Sam, remembering that Fridays were when the duo performed routine maintenance on the air vehicles. "Is the helicopter ready to go?"

"We got it done before lunch," Jennifer confirmed. "What's going on?"

"Ludlow's got an investigation team on Nublar and I want to be ready to bail them out if things go wrong," Sam told her. "So if you could finish up there as quickly as you can and get over here, I'd appreciate it."

"Will do," said Jennifer and then summarily hung up to go assist Kevin with his work. As soon as that was done, Sam quickly dialed down to the Control Room.

"I need you to set up the remote feed to Nublar and key in the security cameras," he told Tim and then hung up before dialing the DRT Team and telling them to get prepped before heading downstairs to the Control Room.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals HQ, San Diego: John Brown sat behind his desk near the top floor enjoying a cup of tea as he looked at the computer monitor, which showed a satellite photo of Nublar and the helicopters approaching it. He then turned to look out the window behind him which gave a wide view of the city and he looked out at the InGen Waterfront Complex.

"Good luck," he said sincerely and held up his cup to them.

Nublar: A group of helicopters soared in from over the horizon and landed in a pattern around the Visitors Center. From the vehicles came several heavily equipped mercenaries and a team of investigators with all sorts of equipment…along with a clearly annoyed Ed Regis. He didn't feel he had to be anywhere near this island with its nasty inhabitants that were now on the loose. But Ludlow had forced him into going as he knew the island better than anyone else, aside from the crews on Sorna and Indigo whom the boss didn't want involved with the investigation.

And so the PR Representative found himself walking up the front steps and into the Center where had once spent most of his recent days before getting food poisoning and upon entering staring at the demolished dinosaur skeletons with a pair of dead raptors nearby. Sighing, he could only think one thought.

"_This is going to be a long day,_"

Five hours later in a hail of gunfire and explosions, the investigation team along with the mercenaries evacuated the island with the help of a timely assist from Sorna's DRT Team flown in by Kevin and Jennifer.


	10. Lysine

Sorna: "It…it was horrible," said Ed terrified over his whole ordeal. He was sitting in the break room of the Operations Center covered with a blanket and holding a cup of coffee in his trembling hands. The other members of the research team and the mercenaries were corralled up in the lodge awaiting transport back to wherever they needed to go.

"Hey we were there, we can sympathize," Henry told him. He and Jake were with him as Sam was making calls back to the mainland to tell them what had happened. Kevin and Jennifer meanwhile were hauling in giant steel barrel on a dolly that looked really heavy as Kevin tried to set it down gently but instead it dropped with a thud and the helicopter pilot collapsed on top of it, winded.

"I-I t-told you th-that I'd g-get it u-up here," said the pilot with a weak thumbs up as he still lay hunched over the thing.

"My hero," said Jennifer dryly as she began undoing the straps holding the barrel to the dolly.

"What's in there?" asked Henry curious.

"The dilophosaur goo we hosed off the helicopter," Jennifer responded as Ed turned white at that statement. "We still need to do a check of the internal circuitry to make sure none got in there to foul up the works so it may be out of action for a few days."

"Oh," said Jake at a loss. "Why bring it here to us?"

"No reason, except to remind you that we risked our lives and equipment saving that team on Nublar. So if you're going to slash any budgets around here, IT'D BETTER NOT BE OURS!" Jennifer snapped at him and then hauled the still exhausted Kevin from the room. The trio watched them leave before looking at each in silence before Ed mustered a thought.

"What is it with you and women?" Ed had to ask of Jake.

"Just lucky I guess," the scientist groaned as he rubbed his eyes. And then he was abruptly startled as the sound of helicopter blades was heard overhead. The trio glanced at each other and then walked over to the window and pulled up the blinds to see workers and vehicles scatter as a Chinook helicopter with an InGen logo emblazoned on the sides landed in the main roadway.

"I think that's for you," said Jake tipping his cup at the helicopter as armed guards strode out of the back of the vehicle and to their surprise, Peter Ludlow exited as well. The group exited the building and down the steps and met the COO halfway across the bridge over the moat.

"Hey Pete," greeted Jake. "Welcome to Sorna. You know; the island you've chosen to forget."

"The Lost World," Henry quipped a little bemused.

"Oh I haven't forgotten anything," Ludlow promised them a little menacingly before sighing and silently apologizing for his tone. It seemed the situation with Nublar was getting worse with each passing day. "Let's go, Ed."

The Head of PR gave his goodbyes to the duo and headed after him as the investigation team and mercenaries were herded onto the vehicle. After a few moments the blades began turning again and it left back up into the sky.

"Was that Ludlow? Did he have anything to say?" Sam asked, rushing down the stairs to meet them.

"Nope," said Henry simply and then he and Jake headed off for the garage and Embryonics Administration. Fortunately, a truck carrying hay was headed that way so they hopped on the back and examined their technical journals on the dinosaur's DNA.

"I was thinking," said Henry after a few moments as he gazed out past an electrified fence where some maiasaurs were drinking at nearby river. "That maybe the problem lies in the frog DNA we used to complete the gene sequences. Assuming the dinosaurs are breeding."

"How so?" asked Jake confused as he looked up from his notes. Henry shrugged lightly as he rubbed his chin.

"I was reviewing our original research and remembered there are frogs out there that can change sex spontaneously in a single sex environment," Henry recalled. Jake tried to recall the early days of the project and found himself nodding his head.

"Yeah I remember," he agreed. "But Gustavius realized that as well and we stopped using them in our trials before the initial batch was created."

"You sure? InGen does like to cut corners," Henry reminded him, noting that they were now in a hay filled truck and not in one of the company cars. To further emphasize the point they passed a flatbed truck on the side of the road that had guided tracks on the bed that a group of workers were laying out.

"You wouldn't be cutting corners with something like this," Jake stated. "First of all, the frog DNA we did use is easily collected from assorted species and none of them are that rare. The other is that if someone swapped the frog DNA with another frog, the combination sequence may not have worked at all. The third reason being that if they could breed then we'd probably lose the patent over them. And the fourth would be that if you're going to start speculating that frogs could start simultaneously change sexes, then there's no reason the dinosaurs might not be able to either."

"Yeah I guess you're right," Henry had to concede. As far as he knew the DNA had never been switched and the dinosaurs couldn't change sexes either as far as he could tell. "You're also doing a good job of defeating your own argument that they are breeding."

"That's what I'm hoping," Jake confessed. "But we should still look into it at some point after we've exhausted all other possibilities."

"Agreed," said Henry as the truck came to a slow near the lab and the two hopped off and waved to the driver who continued on as they made their way to the lab.

"I swear we need some lawnmowers to cut this grass," Jake complained as they made towards the building. "All we need are a couple raptors in here and it's all over."

"It's not that high. At least nowhere near as some of it is getting closer to the village," Henry disagreed. They were about halfway to the building when the sound of rustling grass blades was heard. Looking around nervously, the two scientists noticed an object darting back and forth but they couldn't make out what it was.

"Jake?" said Henry concerned. "Should we make a run for it?"

"No, it'd on us in a minute," the other scientist replied. "Better brace yourself for a-."

"BOOOO!"

"AAAHHH!" shouted Jake and Henry who cowered in terror before the sound of laughter was heard. Looking up, the two saw a young blonde woman in red coveralls laughing mischievously at them.

"Damnit Katrice that's the fifth time in the last two months!" shouted Jake at her, irate at her seemingly habitual behavior. The young woman continued laughing even harder at that as a young brown haired scientist rushed to a halt nearby breathing heavily.

"Colin, you need to keep your sister on a shorter leash," Jake told the new arrival.

"I'm sorry," the scientist genuinely apologized. "I tried not to tell her you two were coming, but it accidentally slipped out."

Katrice was Colin Maken's younger sister and when the scientist had been recruited to join the team at InGen, his one request was to bring her along claiming he was the only one who could put up with her. That readily became apparent because while the twenty year old was amazingly meticulous and could keep track of even the most obscure detail, at times she had the emotional maturity of a five-year old. Sometimes it was endearing, other times it was annoying, and somehow most of her antics seemed to be focused on Jake and Henry. Mainly Jake as he would sometimes get riled up at her whereas Henry knew to be silent about it and would be largely left alone.

"Meh," said Jake not wanting to aggravate things with the young scientist. They all had a lot on their minds at the moment and this was the least of their worries. Besides, an idea for revenge crossed his mind and he held up one hand with the pointer finger extended.

"Hey, I'm still 'it' from the last time you tried to play tag with us and you know what that means!" said Jake in an overly malevolent voice. He then made a lunge at her and the woman yelled, spun around, and shot off for the Administration building looking like a yellow and red rocket. With her gone, the three scientists continued on their way to the building.

"You got those reports for me?" Henry asked of Colin after the trio finally made it to the building.

"Yes I do," Colin responded affirmatively as he grabbed a stack of documents off the front desk that he then handed over to Henry. The trio gave a brief wave to the secretary as they ventured into the complex itself. Inside the main bay, scientists were bustling down below as they continued walking on the catwalk above them.

"Those are the reports on the Lysine Contingency?" asked Jake. Henry nodded.

"I had Derrick, Abby, and Colin here conduct their own investigations into what happens when the lysine runs out for the dinos," Henry confirmed as he handed two of the reports to him and Jake opened one up and flipped through it.

"Are these preliminary analyses or actual test runs?" he asked.

"Prelims, only you and Dr. Wu are authorized to allow test runs," Colin reminded him.

"Then do it and see how your results pan out," Henry said immediately. "Grab anything small enough to fit in the cages here and deprive them of lysine."

"Okay," said Colin a little unsure of himself being in charge of a test, but ready to take on the responsibility. "Should I include a raptor in that study?"

Henry and Jake looked at each other concerned for a moment before Jake nodded his head.

"Do it," he ordered and the two lead scientists headed into Henry's office to once more pour over copious amounts of data. Colin nodded his head and left to find Abby and Derrick, two of his fellow scientists, formulate what dinosaurs they'd use and then contact the DRT team to bring them in. After he found his sister and lectured her once more on whom not to make mad on the island.

Indigo: "I understand that you were responsible for telling Stevens to forgo a more detailed check of Nedry's things," said Daniela to Foreman Michaels, the supervisor who had been in charge that day when the fat man had passed through. Her tone had a hint of iciness to it, but after Ludlow's pullout of the investigation team and the mercenaries had once again forgone her island and its checkpoints, she was getting a little fed up.

"That's right," confirmed Michaels unapologetically.

"You want to tell me, why? Running a scan through the x-ray machine is simple to do and doesn't waste time," Daniela pointed out as if that should be obvious. Michaels nodded his head.

"Oh I agree and I would've only been more than happy to send him through but…," began Michaels hesitantly.

"But what?" demanded Daniela. Michaels sighed.

"I was told not to," he told her finally. Daniela's jaw dropped at that as this was an eerie repeat of her conversation with Stevens.

"BY WH-By whom?" she asked, forcing herself to calm down.

"By Ross Daniels," answered Michaels as he gave the name of one of three managers on the island that were the only level between the supervisors and herself. So she forced herself to recollect herself and think about what had been said.

"Only Nedry," she remarked for clarification. Michaels nodded his head.

"I thought it sounded strange but orders are orders," he told her.

"And you were told this prior to his arrival?" she asked. Michaels nodded his head.

"That morning during prep for the ship's arrival," he responded. "I was told that Nedry was to be cleared no matter what."

"I suppose proof of this conversation doesn't exist?" Daniela pointed out. Michaels shrugged.

"If Ross denies it, then yeah," he said simply. Daniela sighed.

"Go and tell no one we had this conversation," she ordered and Michaels tipped his head at her and left. The leader of Indigo then stood up and looked out the window behind her showing a copy of the main gates at Jurassic Park and she leaned her head against the window as if the coolness of its touch would help her organize her thoughts. And then an instant later her phone started ringing and so she walked over and picked it up, hoping for no more surprises for the day.

"Hello?" she asked into it.

"Uh yes, hello ma'am, this is Thomas Rex of the Jurassic Courier and I'm following up on an anonymous report we've received that you're confiscated cans of shaving cream because you're too cheap to pay for your own while also secretly harboring plans of selling them back at outrageous prices," said the voice on the other end. "Can I get a comment on this?"

The whole weight of the world almost seemed to disappear for a moment as Daniela burst out laughing.

"You're absolutely right," she confirmed.

"See I told you!" said the voice to an unheard companion before the other person demanded the phone as Daniela shook her head in shame.

"Since we're no longer shipping dinosaurs to Nublar, are you that bored that you have to crank call me?" accused Daniela lightly.

"Not at all," said Jake with a modicum of false dignity. "Is it wrong that we are concerned about the welfare of shaving cream cans on this island?"

"Oh I see," said Daniela as the truth finally occurred to her. "Katrice got you again did she?"

"Don't change the subject!" said Jake refusing to back down.

"Oh you're just as bad as she is sometimes," Daniela pointed out. "So what's up?"

"Not much," Henry confessed. "How's the investigation going?"

Daniela blinked at that. While she instinctively thought the two scientists were spying on her with this timely phone call, she knew that in truth the two of them sometimes got so knee deep into their research that they'd forget what day it was.

"Well there've been some surprises, but I'll get it all sorted out," she promised. Just saying those words aloud to someone else gave her strength that it would come true.

"Ooh, sounds exciting," said Jake pleased.

"How're things on your end, found out why all the workers left Nublar?" Daniela asked.

"We're kind of busy looking into something else right now," Henry confessed.

"Really, what?" asked Daniela, her curiosity piqued.

"Oh complicated stuff involving genetics," the scientist answered offhand. "But the reason we're calling is because we wanted to get an idea of how much lysine you have stockpiled over there."

"Yeah, let me check," Daniela told him as he typed away at her computer and got the answer and then relayed that number over the phone.

"That's about what I expected thanks," said Henry.

"How long with that last?" asked Daniela.

"Long enough. But you don't need to worry about that just focus on your investigation," said Henry and hung up the phone. The leader of Indigo wondered what it was Henry and Jake were up to, but realized she couldn't afford to get distracted from her search. If one of her top managers had been bribed by Biosyn, she'd never live it down.

Sorna: "So what do you think will happen if they run out of lysine?" Jake asked. Henry thought about it briefly as he stopped going through the reports the young scientists had generated.

"Best case scenario they slip into a coma and die, worst case scenario absolutely nothing happens," he reasoned. "I mean vertebrate animals don't produce lysine to begin with so the contingency basically inhibits most of their ability to absorb lysine into their bodies at all unless they take the supplemental enzyme. But again, if it actually works or what would happen if the animals began taking more lysine from various natural sources than what we provide them artificially is anyone's guess right now. Not to mention that it's a mystery what will happen to the animals as they slowly lose lysine in their bodies."

"That's about what I thought," Jake agreed. "Course I was also thinking how Hammond didn't want the contingency in the first place."

"And then A-1 happened," Henry recalled. The deinonychosaurs involved hadn't had the contingency built into their genetic structures and so Hammond had immediately demanded the program put into full production to avoid another such incident.

"Okay, so-," began Jake and then the phone started ringing and Henry hit the speaker phone.

"What's up, Sam?" asked Henry as he turned around and fished in his mini-fridge for a soda and then tossed one to Jake as well.

"Guys I don't know where to begin but…," the head of Sorna said in an extremely depressed mood.

"Well out with it or we'll never know," Henry insisted as Jake nodded his head and then drank some of his soda.

"I just got a call from InGen Costa Rica care of Dr. Gutierrez," Sam continued. "There was another A-1 incident that occurred today. We need you two there right now."

Jake spit his drink out all over the side of Henry's office.

Costa Rica: The entire section of the beach was cordoned off by police and other personnel as Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu squatted over a decaying corpse on the side of the beach. They had been flown in by plane to the nearest airport and then hitched a ride to the coast.

"Yeah, it's a dilophosaur alright," Henry confirmed as he had a full surgical outfit on and he poked and prodded the dead animal. He then used some forceps and a knife to pry out a small tracking device and plugged it into a device that Sheila had whipped up and read the results. "And it's from Nublar."

"Well that confirms that the perimeter fencing surrounding the entire island is no longer intact," Jake groaned. "But I still don't see why these animals are so fixated on leaving Nublar. I mean the Deinonychosaurs sometimes would line up at the edge of their fence and stare out into the ocean, but we never understood why."

"Well understand this," Gutierrez cut in. "These animals are a menace and should be eradicated! All we need is a pack of raptors running around in the jungles and they'll become no man lands."

"We're dealing with it," Jake responded. "And at any rate, I wouldn't be too worried about Sorna. We're way too far away for anything to survive that crossing."

Gutierrez still wasn't pleased, but he kept his mouth shut as he took some photos as Henry collected some samples from the beast before a crew came in and soaked the carcass in gasoline and lit it on fire. InGen had a deal with the Costa Rican government where any remains were to be immediately disposed of after identification. Normally if Gutierrez had any photos they'd be confiscated, but Levine's arrangement with InGen had allowed some flexibility in that area.

"Let's go back to the field office, I think Ludlow probably need to chat with us," Jake remarked to Henry. His friend nodded and the two walked off towards a crowd of onlookers blocked off by police barricades and officers. The two walked through and kept walking as they noticed the strange looks of the tourists at two strangers dressed in lab coats. They were finally passed the crowd and were headed for their vehicle when their eyes fell on a familiar individual leaning against it.

"What are you dong here?" Jake and Henry both shouted. John Brown shot them a sly grin and chuckled at their reaction.

"Oh you know, I'm just here for the sun and the surf," the man responded jovially. "Plus I hear that they're discovering all new species of animals out here and some that are very poisonous."

Jake and Henry both shot a hardened look at the man who still maintained his smile.

"So how's the cookout going?" John continued noting the smoke rising up into the late afternoon sky.

"I'm afraid the food got burnt," said Henry sharply. John nodded his head.

"But shouldn't you know that?" Jake asked. "You seem to know everything so far."

"Not everything," John confessed as he crossed his arms. "That's why I'm here. I'm investigating some tantalizing new leads."

"About that?" asked Henry pointing his head at the fire. John shook his head.

"Not quite. My business lies in San Jose but when I heard about this, I felt I had to take a look and also see if I couldn't meet my two best buds," he told them.

"Well we're leaving, so happy trails," said Jake dismissively. John tipped his head at them and stepped to the side to let them pass. As Henry and Jake got in their jeep they took a look at the pharmaceutical executive who was watching them passively.

"Isn't this the part where you offer us some tantalizing but vague little morsel of information?" Henry asked. The man shrugged lightly.

"Let's just say that when it comes to InGen and its actions regarding that incident that occurred on Nublar, that something's rotten in the state of Denmark," John quoted to emphasize his point. "I haven't fully worked it out yet, but I'll let you know when I do assuming you don't reach the answer before me."

Jake rolled his eyes at that as Henry rubbed his chin thinking about it.

"Anything else?" inquired Jake annoyed with his habit to always be one step ahead of them, or Daniela in this case.

"Yeah," said John solemnly. "After today you'll have eighty-nine days left. Make 'em count."

The eyes on the two scientists bugged out as John Brown had quoted them the remaining number of days until the fences failed on Sorna. The two looked out onto the beach to demand how he knew that, but the executive had already left.

"What do you think?" asked Henry as he started up the engine and the jeep trundled off down the beach.

"You know him, he's always got a secret agenda," Jake complained. "Two truths and a lie."

Neither of them bothered to mention aloud that John Brown had only told them two things during that conversation, one of which they knew to be true.


	11. Arby and Kelly

San Jose: John Brown and his team walked past the InGen Field Office without a second thought as they headed further downtown. John was consulting his OMP, the first in what was believed to be a revolution in portability with the personal data assistant. Or it would be if the battery life wasn't so poor, amongst other issues, when dealing with technology in its infancy. But by always being on the forefront with technology, it allowed him to stay one ahead of the competition.

"So where to now, boss?" asked Jeff Thomas. Though he was technically in charge of John's little taskforce and led them on plenty of assignments without the executive present, Jeff often deferred to him out of respect.

"According to the data I entered earlier, the last taxi company is located at…," said John and then the screen went dark. "Stupid batteries."

He fished around in his pockets for more as Jeff pulled out a piece of paper and a map.

"This is why the pen and paper will always be better than hard drives and circuit boards," Jeff espoused.

"It's people like you that make me sick," responded Cassie. "Once the Internet takes off, that's when pen and paper will become obsolete."

"The Internet?" asked Lorne suddenly confused. "What's that?"

Cassie's mouth almost began to salivate at that. "A new revolution in information technology where computers will be able to talk to other computers and display information that anyone all over the world can access. And then one day, PDAs and phones might be able to access it to providing more information at your fingertips than you can find in some dumb old phonebook."

"We'll see," said Jeff a little doubtful about her statements as he looked at the map in his hands. Cassie was about to protest when John cut her off before she went into some tech heavy explanation and then forgot why she was talking about it in the first place.

"Let's just keep moving, we've still got a lot more work to do today," he told them while silently hoping that someone at the next cab company they were going to would recognize either their photos of Lewis Dodgson or Dennis Nedry in the hopes they could pin down where the met up so that Nedry got his bribe for the embryos.

InGen Field Office: Henry and Jake were fanning themselves in the heat as a Compy in a tiny cage nearby was curled up trying to stay cool. The field office was a relatively moderate sized building and wasn't responsible for very much in the overall scheme of things. Its duties would've increased once Jurassic Park opened, but with that unlikely to happen, the building was still largely devoid of personnel and was run by Daniela on Indigo.

"If it's not one thing it's the next," commented Daniela on the conference call, having been filled in on the demise of the investigation and A-2 aka the dilophosaur.

"Did the animal deliberately leave Nublar or was it because of other factors?" asked Ludlow on his end.

"It's too difficult to tell," said Gerry from Sorna. "From the reports it doesn't sound like it matters since it washed up dead anyway."

"Did the lysine contingency kick in?" asked Ludlow next.

"Can't tell either, the sample we collected from the corpse was useless," Henry revealed.

"But the contingency is now in effect right?" asked Ludlow.

"Hypothetically," said Jake noncommittally. It had been a week since the Jurassic Park incident, to all of them it felt much longer, and that was when the lysine deprivation would start kicking in to cause them to slip into a coma.

"What does that mean?" asked Daniela a little worried.

"He's just saying that we don't know what will happen beyond just theories. We've got some of our scientists about to run a trial on how some of our stock will react when deprived of lysine and we'll know the results in another week. Until then, I'd recommend staying away from Nublar," Henry recommended. Ludlow's sigh was heard over the phone.

"I have the President of Costa Rica constantly calling me demanding to know what's going on with that island," he informed them. "I can't just tell him to wait another week before we begin procedures to demolish the island."

"So blow him off," said Jake simply. There was a group of collective groans at that.

"It's not that easy," Ludlow pointed out, although he knew Jake was aware of that.

"It's just a week, tell him you had business and couldn't be reached," Jake responded. "Besides, it's probably going to take a full week just to finish getting everything together to go forward with the operation."

"He does have a point," Daniela reluctantly admitted. "We can't do anything while those dinosaurs live and breathe."

"On that I agree," said Ludlow. "Very well, then. I will draw up the plans we developed for the dismantling of Nublar and see about implementing them."

"How much would it cost to implement those plans?" Lori asked.

"A lot," Ludlow told him. "That's why we've cut your fuel budget to nothing."

"We will get replenished in 88 days right?" Sam asked hopeful.

"We'll see," said Ludlow refusing to give an answer. "Now if the rest of you will sign off, I have a couple of matters to discuss with Doctors Wu and Whitacre."

The others said they're goodbyes and then all that was left were the three individuals. Henry and Jake were wondering if something was going to hit the fan and if they should look for cover.

"I understand John Brown met with you two yesterday," Ludlow told them. The two scientists shared a look before turning to look at the phone.

"Yeah, that's right," Jake confirmed. "Something wrong with that?"

"Did he know what was on that beach?" Ludlow asked, desperately needing to know.

"He didn't come right out and say it, but I believe he knew," Henry answered. They could hear a loud exhale from the other end didn't sound too good to their ears.

"Did he say anything else?" Ludlow asked next.

"Not really, just that he hoped we were still alive in 90 days," said Jake pointedly. Whatever John's other comment that day had meant, Henry and Jake weren't sure and so they kept silent about it. It was clear Ludlow didn't like the guy and they didn't need a more volatile situation on their hands.

"If he ever confronts you again, tell him that if he has anything to say about me or this company that he should be talking to me, not you," said Ludlow decisively.

"Okay," said Jake uncertain as to how to respond to that comment. "Was there anything else?"

"Is Project ELE a viable option if Sorna suffers the same fate as Nublar or was it just something you two cooked up out of boredom as some kind of joke?" Ludlow asked after a few moments of silence.

"We created Project ELE with Doctor Graves and yes, it is a viable option," Henry answered. "But it is a last resort option and once implemented is not something you can just walk away from without consequences."

"And it won't work on Nublar?" asked Ludlow. Jake shook his head knowing the gesture was useless without Ludlow being in the room.

"It wasn't designed for Nublar because we never planned for anything going wrong and if something did happen after the facility became fully active, Nublar was supposed to be more heavily staffed and any breakouts easily contained," Jake produced him. "Plus there's one more important factor. ELE is only effective as long as the fences work and the animals are contained. If the fences fail, then we could do our best, but it would only get more and more difficult to ensure complete success as time went on. I'm sure you've read the timeline we'd need to properly implement the project on Sorna including the last date before it would become too late to finish the project before fence failure."

"Yes I have read the timeline," Ludlow told them. "If we decide to go through with the plan, I will let you know."

"You realize we have the ability to authorize the plan ourselves," Henry told him.

"Not without Doctor Graves you don't," Ludlow reminded them and then he hung up. The two scientists listened to the dial tone for several moments before Jake hit the speaker button and leaned back in his chair.

"Out of the kitchen…," he began. Henry nodded his head.

"I wonder where Gustavius is, though," the scientist wondered aloud. Jake waved his concern off.

"Remember he was working on some project with glucocorticoids. He probably just got so wrapped up in things he lost track of time," Jake figured.

"But he started that project two years ago and we haven't seen him in six months," Henry said at a loss. Jake shrugged as he got up and began rummaging through a nearby cabinet.

"We all have our priorities," he answered cryptically before pulling out the files he needed and dropping them on the desk.

"What's this?" Henry asked looking at the stack.

"One of the benefits with the lack of personnel is that all the HR work in this building is subcontracted out, but all the paperwork has to stay here," Jake explained as he pulled out a second stack and placed it on the desk as well. "Daniela was right. While I think worrying about dinosaurs breeding is a big issue, we can't forget that somebody reassigned almost all the personnel on Nublar to Indigo and Sorna. We need to find out who did that and more importantly, why. All HR reassignments filter through this building so you check your stack and I'll check mine and we'll see what we come up with."

Henry looked at him suspiciously. "What have you done with Jake Whitacre? The Jake I know hates paperwork."

"Can it," said Jake immediately and began digging through his stack. Henry chuckled at that and also began searching through his.

Berkley, San Diego: Richard Levine was once more on the phone with Marty Gutierrez.

"A dilophosaur, I'd have loved to see that," Levine said dreamily.

"It was a horrible site seeing that thing dead on the side of the beach. As I told Whitacre and Wu, we need only one of those bastards loose and it'll be a bloodbath," Gutierrez said, fearful, disgusted and terrified at that prospect. He had checked up and down the beach the previous day and found no tracks leading to the jungle. He just hoped they hadn't been washed away by the tide.

"But what a great study it would create by observing these animals in a habitat that was almost the same as it was sixty-five million years ago," Levine continued oblivious to Marty's concerns. And Marty was hardly surprised by his employer's comments. The man had dinosaurs on the brain through and through.

"Are you going to be ready in a week?" Levine continued, moving past the incident and onto more important matters.

"Yes," Gutierrez said affirmatively. "I really need to get a good look at their security procedures to ensure that no dinosaurs can escape that island regardless of what happens."

"I agree. I'd like the opportunity to study these creatures before any other scientists can lay a claim on studying them," Levine figured would happen eventually if InGen couldn't make a profit otherwise. "I'll be ready on my end and then we'll meet you in San Jose and head on out."

"I look forward to it," Gutierrez said and hung up his phone. Levine hung up his phone and then turned to his two assistants who had just walked in and taken a seat on the other side.

"So, are you two going to be ready for a fun weekend?" he asked of them.

"I guess," said one of his students, a young African-American teenager named R.B. 'Arby' Benton. A relative genius when it came to using computers, Levine often had him perform any and all of his clerical work. "You haven't really told us much about what we'll be seeing or doing other than travelling to some resort island to look over their stuff."

"Yeah and I don't see what that has to do with me since my field is animal behavioral studies," said his other assistant, a young attractive blonde Caucasian woman named Kelly Curtis. She was dressed in a white tank top with a plaid button down shit left unbuttoned and a pair of jean shorts in an intentional attempt to look like her personal hero, Sarah Harding.

"We'll be seeing lions, tigers, and bears, oh my, what a world what a world," said Levine with a big smile at that. Kelly rolled her eyes at that while Arby wasn't sure what that was a reference to. Levine then reached into his briefcase and pulled out a couple of documents.

"I just need you two to sign these before you go," he informed them. Kelly looked at the legal document that was full of jargon she didn't fully understand.

"InGen?" asked Arby looking at the logo at the top of the page. "I didn't know they were moving into the resort market."

"Well they are and they aren't," said Levine cryptically. "It'll make more sense when we get there. This document basically means that you won't talk about what you see on that island with anyone other than Richard, Marty, myself, and authorized InGen personnel."

Arby was reading through the document line by line to make sure there weren't any surprises or caveats he'd need to be aware of that might cause problems later. Satisfied, he signed the document and Kelly upon seeing his actions signed hers as well, knowing that Arby would never lead her wrong. They'd been close friends for many years and were always watching out for the other.

"This isn't going to be like what happened in the Florida Keys, right?" Kelly had to ask hesitantly. Levine had taken them down to the Keys a couple years back in the search of some bog monster and had ended with them fending off a group of hungry gators. Levine had then paid them good money to never mention that incident to anyone ever again.

"No comment," he responded as Kelly immediately dropped her head on the desk and Arby lightly patted her on the back sympathetically.

"Well, see you in here in a week," Levine continued and then collected his things and beat a hasty retreat from the room. Kelly sat back up and then leaned her head back for a moment trying to clear her thoughts. She then turned her head to look at Arby who just stared at her silently.

"What does InGen do?" she asked lazily.

"Genetics Research amongst other things," he responded. Kelly groaned and then slowly got up as Arby did the same. Kelly just shook her head before giving a mild smirk.

"This time you get to wrestle whatever we come across," she told him as Arby blanched out at that thought. Kelly laughed and the two left the room and the problems of the upcoming week behind.

Indigo: Daniela sat across from Ross Daniels, one of the managers of Site C.

"Ross, I've known you for a very long time now. You, me, the rest of the managers, we created a system on this island that would ensure the safety of Nublar and Sorna. We worked hard and were paid well for our work and I thought we were all happy here," Daniela began, dismayed at what had happened. "And then you sold us out."

Ross's expression turned to shock at that.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, angry at what it was Daniela had said.

"You told Michaels who told Stevens to let Nedry pass through customs with only a cursory check!" she responded, not backing down.

"Yes, I did," Ross agreed. His flat out admittance of the truth caused Daniela to begin doubting her earlier assessment.

"Why? Letting Nedry pass gave him the opportunity to try and bring down Jurassic Park and steal InGen assets!" she informed him a little irate. "So why did you choose that day of all days to not check him when something was up?"

"**Because you told me to!**" answered Ross angrily. Daniela's jaw dropped once more at that.

"WHAT?" shouted Daniela so loud that she was sure her secretary heard it through the concrete wall. "I never told you to do that."

"You're right," said Ross backing down. "Not verbally, but I got a message through the company intranet from you telling me to let Nedry pass."

"I never sent you any message," Daniela disagreed with him, shaking her head to further the point.

"Well I definitely got one from you. If I could use your computer," Ross requested. Daniela nodded and stepped aside and Ross accessed her computer and then his electronic mail.

"That's odd," he said with his eyebrows scrunched together. "That message isn't here anymore."

"Uh-huh," said Daniela, trying not to sound doubtful. Ross leaned back in the chair thoughtfully before shrugging.

"Glad I printed it out then," Ross revealed and got up and left with a skeptical Daniela to his office.

San Jose: John and his team were at the last taxi cab company as Cassie was looking through their computer records for the information they needed as Jeff spoke with the head of the company. John for his part was on his cellular phone talking with his CEO and promising that his efforts to pin what happened with InGen on Biosyn were starting to bear fruit.

"Yeah, thanks boss," said John grateful that he had been allowed to continue his efforts and then hung up his phone as Lorne approached.

"You've got something?" he asked, hopeful. The psychologist nodded his head.

"Cassie's digging in the records brought up a name of a cabbie we think could be the match we're looking for," Lorne told him and then looked at the sheet of paper in his hands. "His logs indicate he took an American passenger from the airport to a local café and there's a scribbled note about him refusing to close the door of the cab when he exited the vehicle."

"Could be our man," John agreed, although really that description could've fit anyone. "Cassie, Steven and I will hit up this café, you and Jeff go find this cabbie and question him."

Lorne nodded and went to talk to Jeff who nodded his head and pulled out a wad of bills and paid the man and the group exited the building.

"Poke around for however long you can and we'll meet up back at the local office," John ordered. The group nodded their heads and then the two teams went their separate ways.

From a vehicle across the street, Howard King watched them go and wrote down what notes he could about their actions.

InGen Field Office, HQ: "This isn't possible," said Jake looking through the stack as Henry nodded his head, equally mystified.

"Too weird, how can the transfer papers not be in here," he agreed. "But they had to have been issued otherwise how would they have known to leave in the first place?"

"Maybe John was right," Jake wondered before shaking his head. "Or maybe he just likes muttering nonsense to make us think something is wrong."

"That too," Henry agreed. "I don't know, maybe digging in the computer system might reveal something."

"Okay, do you know how to do that?" Jake asked, next. Henry scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Nope, but I'm sure Tim and Sheila would be happy to help out," Henry figured with a big grin on his face. Jake groaned heavily at that suggestion.

"I'll bet they will," he grumbled. Tim would do it but likely hold reservations about the extra work without being verbal about it. Sheila would never let them hear the end of it before starting on the work.

"So what now?" asked Henry. Jake leaned back in his chair and propped up his feet.

"Well my first idea would be to buy a ton of shaving can creams to drive Daniela crazy. But I'm afraid that she actually will go nuts so that's not a good idea," Jake mused. "Let's go see Hammond."

Henry wanted to tell his friend that was a bad idea considering Ludlow's current mood. But then again it wasn't like they'd been forbidden to see their boss.

"How about after the inspection?" he asked, instead. Jake nodded his head.

"Okay. So I guess we need hit up one of the local juice bars because Carly said she's dying for a pineapple smoothie," Jake told him. Henry laughed at that.

"She's got you wrapped around her finger," he pointed out as the two left the building.

"Just like a DNA Helix," Jake quipped and the two proceeded down the road towards a café, a café that was also the destination of John Brown and his team.


	12. More Mysteries

Indigo: "Impossible," said Daniela astounded as she looked at the message Ross Daniels had received and printed out. It showed a message to Ross Daniels from her telling him to let Nedry pass that day no matter what.

"Oh," said Ross finally realizing the truth. "You really did have no idea about this."

"None, whatsoever," she said in a hushed tone as she scrutinized the message. "I'll need to make a copy of this and try and…"

Daniela couldn't even think about where to go with this line of thought or her investigation and Ross just nodded his head in silently understanding as he made a copy of the page and handed it to her. And she slowly nodded her head and left the room in a daze back to her office. What had started as a simple investigation into whether someone had sold out InGen besides Nedry, had just become a whole lot more complicated than she had originally anticipated. And she was secretly afraid of where it would lead her to once she found some answers.

Sorna: "I really don't want to do this," Lori confessed for the umpteenth time. She and Sam were standing by one of the Jurassic Park tour vehicles as Sheila was working with the onboard navigation system and talking with Tim back at the Control Center via the vehicle's radio.

"It'll be fine," said Sam trying to sound reassuring. The group was out in the middle of a large field and had created a circular track to test out the tour vehicle while workers across the island were continuing to lay out track elsewhere to all locations on the island. "Isn't that right Sheila?"

"Uh, sure," said the female technician unconvincingly as she looked up from her portable terminal that she was using to update the vehicle's operating system. She typed in a few commands on her device and then gave a half-hearted smile.

"Ready?" she asked. Lori shot a death glare at Sam before walking towards the vehicle and getting in the driver's seat as Sam sighed and got into the back seat.

"Now the guided tour vehicles are designed to run on a track in the middle of the roadway and use a combination of GPS positioning and mileage tracking to determine what animals are located where. It then displays that information on the screen along with the appropriate commentary and…," began Sheila until she saw the blank stares from Sam and Lori. "What?"

"I think we both know how the system operates," Sam commented as Lori nodded her head in agreement.

"Well excuse me, but I take some pride in this system since I helped work on its design," said the programmer haughtily. "So as I was saying…"

"Just get it started already," Lori complained as she felt green at the prospects of this vehicle starting up with no driver at the wheel.

"Genius is never appreciated in its time," Sheila complained with a statement that Nedry tended to utter a lot to Hammond. "But, fine. As Ray always said, 'hold onto your butts'."

Sheila told Tim they were going to get started and then tapped a command into her device and the engine on the car started up.

"We're gonna die!" shouted Lori immediately as he gripped the dashboard tightly with her hands.

"At least wait to say that until after I've entered in the commands to move!" Sheila shot back and then made a couple more taps on her device. The wheels started to turn and the vehicle slowly began moving on the track.

"It's alive!" shouted Tim over the radio as Lori turned completely green upon hearing that.

"What's her problem, motion sickness?" asked Sheila to Sam in the backseat.

"She was one of the first to test the tour program and needless to say it still needed some issues to be worked out at the time," said Sam trying not to divulge any more details while Lori could hear them. Besides, Sheila was fully aware about what had happened when the tour vehicle had gone 'rogue' and took off on a wild jaunt across the countryside. Everyone onboard had been fine once the vehicle finally came to a halt, but Lori vowed never to ride in one again.

"Well we'll be fine," said Sheila dismissively as she began inputting commands into the vehicle and it started moving faster than before.

"If you look to the right, you'll see the first dinosaur on our tour called Dilophosaurus," began the voice from the box in the center of the dashboard.

"Awesome!" said Sheila impressed as she took out a pen and paper and noted the reading on the odometer. "This is great because it means the update we did to the tour program worked otherwise we wouldn't be hearing anything about Jurassic Park."

"That's great, but how are we doing?" asked Sam in response. Sheila gave him a confused look.

"We're still alive aren't we?" she retorted and began reading the display on her terminal and then picked up the radio. "Tim, are you ready to take over?"

"Affirmative," said the voice. Lori shot Sheila an enraged look.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded fiercely. Sheila defensively leaned back against the door away from her.

"We can't permanently run these cars off of portable terminals. They need to be run by the servers back at the Operations Building," Sheila explained. "So we're going to test it out now."

"I want off this ride," Lori demanded of Sam. Sheila began typing commands on her terminal to avoid listening to her hysterics.

"Lori," began Sam trying to calm her down. "I wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't convinced it was safe."

"But why do I have to be here?" Lori pleaded.

"Because the workers trust you when it comes to OSHA compliance," Sam told her. "If you're here, it means you're confident the program works."

"But I'm not!" Lori told him. Sam nodded and put his hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"I know, but that's just the way this job works when dealing with dinosaurs," he responded and then turned to Sheila. "Go ahead."

"Oh," said Sheila a little surprised as she looked over at them having forgotten they were there before she produced a piece of gum and began chewing on it. "Well while you two were having your sappy heart to heart I transferred the controls over to Tim."

Lori began using breathing exercises to calm herself before noticing they were no longer in the field.

"Where are we going?" she demanded next.

"We need to check how well the track works so back to the Village we go!" said Sheila with false excitement and then popped a giant bubble with her gum and began reading through the data scrolling on her terminal. "Yeah, Tim, the lights are running but try the command I told you earlier…yeah, that's got it, they're turned off. So I was thinking…"

Sheila continued to ramble on about the tour program with Tim as Sam sat staring out the window looking at the miles of fences pass by while Lori simply shut her eyes and wished it was all over soon.

San Jose: Jake and Henry were sitting once more in the outdoor café that Nedry had once recommended to Carly.

"I don't know whether to feel fortunate that Marty's not here bothering us or terrified that he'll be on Sorna in less than week," Jake admitted taking a bite of his burger.

"What do you think they'll have to say?" asked Henry a little concerned. Jake shrugged.

"Marty will claim the entire project should be scrapped, Levine will want to study those dinosaurs unto eternity," Jake shuddered. "Thorne will give us the most level headed evaluation and it's his that I want to read the most. I really want to read what he thinks about our current setup."

Henry nodded and then something caught his eye.

"Is that John again?" he asked. Jake instantly looked up and saw the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive with a small ground of individuals across the way talking with some workers at the café.

"Oh great," said Jake annoyed as he threw down his burger in disgust. "I swear if he starts talking nonsense with us again so soon after the last time, that I'll let him know Ludlow is after him."

"I actually don't think he's here for us," Henry amended as John was talking with the café owner in Spanish and showing him a photo that Jake and Henry couldn't make out.

"Then what?" asked Jake confused. "I don't think a pharmaceuticals company would care about a business like this."

"Unless it's E. Coli," Henry chuckled and looked pointedly at Jake's burger. Jake shot him a look before taking another bite and staring at the entourage across the way.

"Should we go in for a closer look?" asked Henry curious. Jake shook his head.

"I'd rather not know," Jake confessed. Henry look at him disappointed before leaning forward and trying to hear what he could of the conversation. His Spanish was rusty, but from what he could hear, John Brown was intent on knowing if a pair of customers had visited the establishment. A few moments of talking and then the owner of the restaurant called over a waiter.

"What do you make of that?" Henry asked during the pause, knowing that Jake had been listening in as well.

"I think that woman with them looks uncannily like Sheila," Jake observed instead. Henry lightly shook his head as his friend's refusal to answer the question, but he knew Jake would offer his opinion once all the facts were in. Henry returned to the conversation as the waiter appeared but took a moment to glance at the woman with the group that was messing with a PDA. She did look like Sheila he had to admit.

"Dodgson!" said the waiter cutting into his thoughts. "Soy Dodgson."

Jake began choking on his burger at that as Henry was so stunned that he dropped his drink and it shattered on the ground below. John Brown looked around briefly upon hearing the noise and noticed the two scientists. His eyes briefly widened before returning to their normal size and he turned and exchanged more words with the owner and waiter and then walked towards them as one of the other members pulled out some cash and paid them both.

"You son of a b-," began Jake when John calmly held up a hand to stop him before he finished that thought.

"What you heard you have no context for," he reminded them harshly and then left without another word. Jake and Henry watched him go at a complete loss.

"Let's go," said Jake disgusted. "I've lost my appetite."

Henry nodded and both paid their bill and left the café behind both ruminating over this turn of events and what it meant.

Later, Sorna: The tour vehicle finally came to a halt inside the Village as Lori bolted from the vehicle without trying to make it too obvious she wanted to get as much distance between her and it as possible.

"Rock on," said Sheila pleased as she finished collecting data on her terminal and then shut it down. "I'd call that test run, successful."

"You exceeded my expectations," Sam agreed as he got out of the back of the vehicle and stretched. "How long before we can implement it in all the tour vehicles?"

"Probably not for another month or two," Sheila confessed. Sam looked surprised by that estimate.

"We need to conduct some more tests first. After that it's a matter of needing the track to be laid out first and then figure out distances between each location etc. etc.," Sheila explained as she exited the vehicle. "Then we'll do a little bit of reprogramming with each vehicle and back at the hub and then we'll be ready to go."

"Keep me posted then," said Sam heading for the Operations Building before another thought occurred to him. "Oh and worry about reprogramming the voice box tour after the vehicles are fully operational."

"Ah, c'mon!" protested Sheila. "You're telling me that you wouldn't like to learn about these creatures as you're going to and from work?"

"I work here, so no," Sam responded lightly. "I'm not saying you can't work on it afterwards, but unless we extend our fuel reserves, that tour information won't be of much use if the attractions are running wild throughout this island."

"Right," Sheila said, having no choice but to agree. "We'll get moving on this as quickly as we can."

Sam nodded his head in agreement and proceeded with her back to the Operations Building.

San Diego, California: Lewis Dodgson was on the phone listening to Howard King's report on the movements of John Brown and his team.

"I can see they're moving faster than I had anticipated," Dodgson realized aloud. "No matter, I'm ready to make my move when they get closer to the truth."

"Who did you think the two men at the table were?" asked King curious.

"Likely Doctors Whitacre and Wu of InGen," Dodgson replied, unconcerned with their presence in all of this.

"But if InGen finds out…," began King.

"Ludlow likely already suspects Biosyn's involvement but he has much more important things to be worried about right now," Dodgson answered. "Get back here to HQ on the double; we've got work to do."

"Yes sir," said King and then Dodgson hung up the phone. Dodgson sighed heavily before looking down at this desk. Laying there was a topographic map of Site B complete with the locations and descriptions of all the dinosaur pens and the identification of the various buildings all over the island. Rather than immediately voice anything out loud, he stared at the map for several moments deep in thought.

"One day," he swore and then rolled up the map and put it away.

Palo Alto, California: Sarah Harding was out in the grass field behind Mobile Field Systems as she used the tracker to find her satellite phone.

"Found it, Eddie!" she yelled across the way to Eddie Carr who was watching her use the device. He smiled and gave her a thumb's up as Sarah returned with the phone. "Works like a dream."

"Thanks," said Eddie pleased with her appreciation of his work. Sarah put her phone back in her lucky pack and then looked around confused.

"Where's Doc, I was hoping to say hi," she confessed. Eddie shrugged.

"He's busy preparing for a field trip," Eddie told her. Sarah was surprised at that.

"Doc never goes on field trips if he can avoid them," she reminded Eddie, fully aware that he knew that. Eddie nodded his head and briefly yawned.

"Yeah, but Richard isn't offering him much choice. There's some bigwig corporation willing to pay them big bucks to go check out the safety of an island of theirs," he told her as the two headed back to the assembly plant.

"Really, which one?" asked Sarah curious. Eddie stopped in his tracks wondering if he should tell her. Doc hadn't made it a secret to him, but still it was probably better that the whole world didn't know.

"Promise not to tell?" he asked, sounding like a child as he said it.

"Absolutely," Sarah promised and her word was good enough for him.

"Some company called InGen," he answered and kept walking only now it was Sarah who was stopped in her tracks.

"That mean something to you?" he asked. Sarah slowly nodded her head.

"My dad works for InGen as sort of a consultant," she admitted. Eddie nodded his head.

"Then you should know what they're up to," he responded pleased. "I'm sure Doc would love to talk to you about whatever it is he's getting into. Richard was a little light on the details was my understanding."

"But that's just it," said Sarah at a loss. "I don't know anything either. My dad has never said what he's doing over there. Lately, all I gathered is that something went wrong on an island of theirs a week or so back and people died. I had a talk with my mom after she went down to Costa Rica after it happened to see him and my sister. But he wouldn't say anything about what happened and my younger sister, Jess, was apparently terrified out of her mind."

"Well that doesn't sound good," said Eddie a little put off by her comments. "But from the sounds of things, Doc isn't going to that island. He's going to another one of InGen's where they're scared the same thing may happen."

"Then I have to go with him," Sarah insisted. "If my father's life is at stake, I can't just sit by and do nothing."

"I really don't think that little trip is open to outsiders," Eddie figured as the two entered into the building and walked past workers putting together various pieces of research equipment including the twin trailers. "Besides, don't you have work to do already back in Africa?"

Sarah sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah. But that doesn't mean I won't go have a talk with Doc and InGen."

"Good luck," said Eddie shrugging lightly. "You'd never catch me on an island like where they're going if something had gone wrong."

Sarah laughed at that. "Ah, but Eddie, we both know you'd come if it meant rescuing me. I'm your most loyal customer!"

Eddie hung his head at that for a moment before straightening back up and giving her a light smile.

"Be safe," he requested. Sarah gave her longtime friend a brief hug.

"Always," she swore and then was gone to go back to her apartment and find a phone to call her father, Gerry Harding.

San Diego: Peter Ludlow was examining detailed plans drafted to liquidate Jurassic Park in the event an incident occurred. Aside from a post-it note Jake had slapped to the front page with the words 'blow everything up', the plans were basically fool proof. It was just a matter of finding the funds to pull it off. That was why they were going to compress the staff of the two islands together and then sell off everything non-vital on Indigo.

Samantha was already prepping for her trip over there and he knew the fur would fly when they found out, but there was nothing they could do. All that mattered was finishing up this mess with Jurassic Park and moving on to making the company profitable once more. The current estimates from various contractors about how much it would cost to finish Jurassic Park San Diego were sitting on a folder on his desk that he had yet to look through. The only thing he knew right off the bat was that there would likely be questions from the contractors about what exactly was supposed to be housed in the giant facility but InGen had remained intentionally vague on the issue.

But so far things were slowly starting to settle down and go according to plan for the first time since the park had fallen apart. All that mattered now was continuing to prevent outside elements from causing any more problems. And so Ludlow accessed his computer, he pulled up a series of files showing what it was that Daniela St. Ives had been up to at Indigo. According to his reports from contacts he had on the island, the female leader had gotten more erratic since Jurassic Park's demise and was questioning workers about something related to the last boat ride to Nublar.

She would need to be watched more carefully Ludlow decided. The same went for Henry Wu and Jake Whitacre who had gone through the stacks of personnel transfer form during their time in San Jose. The last thing he needed was for them to start drawing conclusions about things they had no real understanding of. It would only cause further misunderstandings down the road.

Sorna: Sam was at the airstrip chatting it up with Jennifer and Kevin as the two pilots had pretty much taken the helicopter apart and were cleaning each individual part to dispose of any remaining dilophosaur venom. As it currently stood, there were now parts scattered all over the open hanger and around the lone DC-3 plane which was the only other craft capable of flight that the island possessed.

"So how long before you can clean it up and put it all back together?" Sam asked of the duo.

"Depends on how much goop we find," said Jennifer as she intentionally wringed some out into a nearby bucket. "A week at least, but a best guess would be two weeks to a month. We have to be thorough otherwise we'll risk a short out during flight."

Sam inwardly sighed at that number, but he knew that while the two often liked to give wild estimates in order to be left alone to their own devices, that the proper maintenance of the vehicles was always their top concern. Without them, if anyone needed to get to the mainland quickly, they'd have to wait for the boat to pick them up. So if it would take that long to properly fix, it would just have to take that long.

"So, anything else you'd like to discuss?" Kevin asked from the cockpit of the craft as he had the instrument panel pulled out and was testing the connections.

"Yes, but only in confidence," he told the two of them. The two pilots exchanged a glance and then nodded their heads.

"We don't get many visitors out here anyway," Jennifer pointed out, lightly. "I mean we didn't even go to your dinner when you announced what had happened. We just sat around in the office eating canned soup watching the broadcast. Sorry."

Sam waved her concern off. It was true that the two felt somewhat detached from the rest of the personnel on Sorna, but they didn't seem to mind. It basically meant the chain of command for them was Jennifer then Kevin and then Sam and he was often too busy to issue them orders on a regular basis. So in effect they had really had no boss which was fine by them.

But that wasn't his concern at the moment when talking to them, only one thing was.

"If we ever had to completely evacuate Sorna, how long would it take?" Sam asked solemnly. That got Kevin and Jennifer's attention and they both stopped what they were doing to think about it.

"With or without outside help?" asked Kevin as Jennifer rubbed the grease off her hands with a rag as she too thought about Sam's question.

"Assume without," he told them. Jennifer and Kevin sat for a few moments thinking.

"I couldn't tell you right away," Kevin admitted. "The DC-3 can hold twenty-one passengers and it's about forty-five minutes to an hour to Costa Rica depending on weather conditions. We've got around three hundred workers on this island and assuming on-loading and off-loading and refueling and…"

"I get the idea," said Sam butting in. "Just come up with an estimate as soon as possible. Assume that we're not taking anyone to Indigo and with no cargo but what they're carrying on them. I'd like those numbers as soon as possible."

Kevin and Jennifer nodded their heads in understanding. And then both went back to cleaning the helicopter parts, each wondering what the situation would be like when they had to evacuate the island.

It wouldn't be a good day, no matter what happened.

85 days until total fence failure.


	13. Infiltration

Sorna: Gerry Harding was in the Veterinary Clinic with Jake and Henry as the last of his supplies that were stockpiled on Indigo were being brought in.

"That everything?" asked Jake curious as he looked at the crates with identification numbers that he didn't understand.

Gerry nodded his head. "Yes and barring any unforeseen accidents with the animals, should last at least until when the fences fail."

"If you say so," responded Jake and then he headed for the door with Henry. "We'll we'd better be off, work to do."

"Speaking of, what's with those dinosaurs corralled in the holding pens back at Embryonics Administration?" asked Gerry. Henry shrugged.

"Research," he confessed lightly. "We want to see how the lysine contingency really works."

Gerry gave them a slightly surprised look at that. "You haven't found out before now?"

"We've never had to worry about it until now," Henry responded and then tipped his head and he and Jake left the building to go back to work. As the veterinarian watched them leave, he gave a couple of orders to his staff about unboxing what was in the crates that they knew they'd need immediately. The rest could wait until later when they figured out their storage situation. With that done, he then walked into his small office and began reading through the reports from his staff about the wellbeing of the various animals on the island now that the DX fiasco had finally been eliminated.

He was making various notes on the reports when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he said into it distractedly as he yawned into his hand.

"Hi, dad," was the enthusiastic response on the other end. Gerry immediately sat up at that.

"Well, well, nice to hear from my absent child after all these months," he said pleased. "How're things in Kenya?"

"Oh, daddy, that's next month," said Sarah Harding chiding him.

"Oh, right, I forgot what day it was," her father responded as he flipped his calendar over to August and then realizing August was virtually over, then flipped it to November. "So what are you up to now?"

"Hanging out in Palo Alto with Doc and Eddie," Sarah answered. Gerry nodded his head as he threw up his feet on his desk.

"I'm actually going to be seeing Jack Thorne soon, I think he's coming down here where I work," Gerry told her.

"Yes, I think I heard something to that effect," Sarah began coyly. "That's actually why I'm calling. I want to come with him to see you."

Gerry's began coughing when he heard that.

"Any particular reason?" he rasped out.

"Yeah, because I don't want whatever happened to you and Jess to happen again," said Sarah bluntly. Gerry sighed at her renowned tenacity. At times it was helpful, at other times could prove to be her worst enemy when it got her into trouble.

"What happened then was an accident," he told her. "It won't happen again."

Whether both of those statements were technically true wasn't up to him to decide. They were true enough for the purposes of this conversation.

"Yeah, but I want to be sure of that myself," Sarah responded. "Especially since you've never told me what InGen is up to where you are."

"And you know that I can't tell you that," Gerry said for the thousandth time whenever she asked that question. "Really, it's not as exciting as you might think it is."

Through his open doorway, he could see a couple of workers hauling in a bruised and bloody gallimimus that was heavily tranquilized.

"Look, I've got to go, duty calls," he told her. "But I'm planning on being back home in a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll see you then."

"Yeah, sure," said Sarah distantly with just a hint of tension in her voice. Gerry could tell she wasn't happy about his continued dismissal of her concerns over his safety, but there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, the further away his daughter stayed from this island the better. He'd nearly lost one child to these creatures and he couldn't afford to take that risk again. All he could do would be to make it up to Sarah one day. He then made his goodbyes to her and then hung up the phone and went back into the clinic to get to work on the new patient.

As for the woman on the other end of the phone call, she was not going to give up that easily in getting her way onto that island.

Embryonics Administration: Colin Maken, Abby Nakajima, and Derrick Hoyle were walking past the cages and observing the dinosaurs inside. They had collected a fair sample of creatures that were small enough to fit inside the enclosures and were now just checking up on their current status. So far there was no change, but the animals had only been corralled up for a couple of days.

"Maybe the blood tests will reveal some early changes," Derrick figured. Colin nodded his head and nodded to the DRT team who came in and walked up to the shackled dinosaurs and forcibly drew blood samples without any sedatives. The lack of sedatives meaning the blood tests wouldn't taint the samples, although in Abby's mind it seemed a little cruel to the animals as they had to use a larger needle to pierce their thick skins to draw the samples. But it had to be done because they needed those results and fast.

Meanwhile Jake and Henry silently filtered past them, both thinking once more about the possibility of the dinosaurs being able to breed and whether or not the Lysine Contingency was hereditary.

A couple days later: Peter Ludlow was once more reviewing the plans that had been drafted by Gustavius Graves, Jake Whitacre, and Henry Wu and then looked at the estimates he had received from various private contractors about the costs of getting it done. He then looked at the reports from the Treasurer on the Board and saw that with selling off certain assets on Indigo and Nublar, they'd just barely have enough to cover the costs of liquidating Nublar and start on finishing Jurassic Park: San Diego.

And then his phone rang interrupting his deliberations.

"Yes?" he asked into it.

"Sir, Doctor Harding is here to see you," said the front door receptionist. As she said that, Richard Levine entered into his office and silently took a seat. The two had already planned a final meeting to go over arrangements and it was just about to start. But now that Dr. Harding had mysteriously shown up, that threw a strange wrench into things.

"You don't mind do you?" he asked of Levine. Levine had a broad grin on his face after hearing that question for reasons Ludlow couldn't identify.

"Go for it," he said encouragingly.

"Well send him up," said Ludlow not sure what else to say. This situation was getting stranger by the moment and Levine evidently knew something he didn't but was being coy about it. Ludlow was beginning to sense the same irritation that Jake and Henry felt towards the man, but he wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of acting on that feeling. Levine for his part just sat there twiddling his thumbs.

"Should we get started before Doctor Harding gets up here?" asked Ludlow raising an eyebrow at the multi-millionaire across from him. Levine shrugged lightly.

"I have a suspicion that when Harding gets up here that the topic will be the same," he responded cryptically with another big grin. Ludlow barely avoided a groan at that and just sat and waited for the Harding to arrive.

"Well in the meantime, is your team prepped?" asked Ludlow. Levine nodded his head.

"We're ready for Friday," he said rubbing his hands together. "I just need from you what it is you want us to find out and report back on."

"Samantha Brown will present it to you upon arrival on the island," Ludlow answered simply. Levine chuckled at that.

"Full of secrecy are we?" he stated offhand.

"Being the owner of a famous line of dolls, surely you know and understand the need to prevent leakage of information on your product," Ludlow pointed out. Levine nodded his head.

"That I do," he agreed as the door to Ludlow's office opened. "But I think one of your secrets has slipped out."

"What do you mean?" the other man asked pointedly and then looked up to see Doctor Sarah Harding enter into his office. Ludlow's look of shock at her appearance turned to a glare at Levine who had clearly known she was the Doctor Harding being referred to. The head of the Becky Doll Corporation just gave him a bemused expression of apathy. His trip was set in stone; there was no way out of it now and Levine would not be refused access Isla Sorna.

"I'll make this brief, I need to be on that research team you're sending to that resort island of yours," said Sarah Harding cutting into his thoughts. Levine looked at her surprised before his expression narrowed.

Evidently Levine wasn't the only one with a strong desire to be on that island.

San Jose, Pacific Pharmaceuticals Field Office: John's team was sequestered into one of the conference rooms of the building going over the results of their 'scratch and sniff' mission from the prior day.

"We still don't have any proof that Dodgson and Nedry made an arrangement to obtain embryos. Although given that an apparently large bag was transferred between them at the café and Nedry was given a can of shaving cream with a detachable bottom, that gives us good circumstantial evidence that something was going on," Jeff informed the group. John nodded his head absently as he tapped the conference table with his pen trying to think.

"Well since Nedry never left Costa Rica before heading back to Nublar, he had to have deposited that money somewhere around here," said Lorne. He then turned to Cassie.

"I don't suppose you could hack the files of the local banks?" he asked hopeful. Cassie shook her head.

"There are no data connections down here. I don't even know if they have computers to house their data anyway," Cassie replied dismissively. "I suppose we could wait to see if any of the taxi cab companies report back on picking up Nedry. That would likely give us a better idea of what bank he used. Course even if they did tell us something, I don't think the banks can be bribed as easily as the taxi cab companies."

"Maybe there's an easier way," Lorne speculated. "If he had a large sum of money, I'd imagine there are only so many banks that would accept such a large influx of cash."

"Good point," Jeff agreed. "Course we may need to take some unorthodox steps if we can't coerce them into telling us what we want to know."

John again absently nodded his head as he continued to ruminate on his troubled thoughts.

"What we really need to get our hands on is the delivery device that Dodgson gave Nedry," Serena noted. "Course, where that delivery device is, I don't know. Hey boss, have you found out anything new on that end?"

John was too lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice he was being spoken to.

"Boss?" asked Jeff a little concerned. John blinked upon finally recognizing his name and escaped his funk.

"Based on what I've gathered from the report cobbled together during InGen's disastrous attempt to investigate what happened on Nublar; Nedry never made it to the East Dock," he told the group. "They also haven't recovered the delivery device which means it is still on Nublar."

"We need to go there and get it," Jeff declared. "We need to get it before InGen finds it or worse Biosyn. I don't think they're going to sit idly by and leave their company in the lurch like this with a damning piece of evidence not in their control."

"Nublar is a dangerous place," John reminded them. "I could get you and a small team in there, but you'd be on your own. If InGen discovered you, I can't promise an easy extraction."

"Nothing is without risks, but we promised the CEO that we'd have the evidence implicating Biosyn in what happened to Nublar," Jeff reminded him. "I'm in."

"Me too," said Cassie surprising everyone. "At least in the sense that I'd like to take a crack at the computers I've heard are at the Nublar location before they're wiped clean and then put up on the auction block. If that happens, who knows what data we'll be able to get off of them."

"That's going a little far isn't it?" Lorne said, concerned. "We're here to implicate Biosyn, not ourselves, in industrial espionage."

"Nedry may have kept records of these things on his terminal, it couldn't hurt to look," Cassie responded innocently. It was clear she had an ulterior motive for wanting to gain access to InGen's computers, but for what purpose was still a mystery. Still, she was loyal to Pacific Pharmaceuticals, John made sure of that with all of them on the team.

"Well boss?" asked Jeff of their commanding officer.

"If you want to go, I won't stop you. But I can't officially or unofficially assign you to this task," he warned them. "And while I still can't tell you what you'll find on that island, it will change your life forever."

The team wasn't sure what that meant and they sat in silence for a few moments thinking what to do.

"We'll go," Jeff finally decided. "If you could just find out who they're planning on contracting out the work to, we should be able to be hired on with no problem."

"I'll have it to you by this tomorrow," John promised. Jeff nodded his head and turned to the others and dismissed the group. As they filed out, John was again completely oblivious to them as he still was immersed in his own thoughts. He then noticed a shadow hovering over him in the form of Lorne.

"Something's wrong isn't it," the psychologist stated. John shrugged lightly.

"I'm not sure yet," he responded truthfully. "I just get the feeling we're overlooking something. Dodgson hasn't really made a move yet and that has me a little concerned. I think he knows something we don't and I just can't figure out what that something is."

"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out," Lorne said encouragingly. He then made his goodbyes and exited the room. John sat and looked up at the empty room and sighed again deeply. He just hoped when he figured out Dodgson's game that he made the right move in time otherwise they'd all be in trouble.

San Diego: "I don't know what you're talking about," Ludlow told Sarah Harding after she had explained why she knew he was sending a team to one of InGen's islands.

"I think you do, otherwise _he_ wouldn't be sitting here," Sarah pointed out as she tipped her head in Levine's direction. Levine chuckled at that, clearly amused by this turn of events, as Ludlow's scowl grew deeper.

"Fine, Dr. Levine is here because we are building an island resort centered on the Becky Doll Line and we need him on as a consultant," he decided on a new tact. Levine's jaw dropped at that before he turned thoughtful.

"Yeah and it will have all these great rides because we're thinking about introducing prehistoric animals to the Becky Doll Jungle Explorer Line," he mused aloud. Ludlow had to resist glaring at him for that comment but thankfully Harding seemed to shrug it off as him saying stuff off the top of his head.

"The point is that something very bad happened on one of your islands and my dad and little sister got mixed up in it," Sarah continued. "And there's no way I'll just sit by and let my father risk his life by having a similar situation happen on a second island of yours. I'm an animal behaviorist and I think you could use me on your team."

"I'd be happy to have her along," Levine added. "Because we all know the real reason she wants to come along is to be close to me."

Sarah groaned and rolled her eyes at that as Ludlow was now at the point where he wished he wasn't hearing this conversation.

"I appreciate your concern but this trip has already been planned out and there's no room for anyone else," Ludlow told her in the most diplomatically way possible. "Rest assured that your father is very safe and as for what your sister experienced, I offer my sincerest apologies. Now please leave us because our time is vital and we need every minute of it."

"I'm going to that island," Sarah swore as she got up. "Maybe not right now, but I will someday. And I'll tell everyone what happened on that other island of yours."

"You do and you'll regret it for the rest of your life," said Ludlow finally taking the bait. "The door is that way. I trust I don't need to show you the way out, Doctor Harding. Have a nice day."

Sarah gave Ludlow a piercing look of pure anger before getting up as Levine had taken out a piece of paper and was writing on it.

"You ever want to call me, don't hesitate," he said with a wide grin as he handed her the paper. Sarah snatched the paper out of his hand and squeezed it tight in her fist and then stormed out of the room. Levine and Ludlow watched her go before Levine turned back to Ludlow.

"Can we get this meeting under way, I am a busy man," he informed the head of InGen. Ludlow sighed and then pulled out a dossier and slid it across the desk to him.

Outside, Sarah Harding angrily left the building. She hadn't really expected Peter Ludlow to allow her to go, but the conversation wasn't making her any happier about that fact. In fact she'd been so frustrated that she'd forgotten to throw out the piece of paper Richard Levine had passed to her. She was about to throw it away in the nearest trash can when she decided to at least read what he had written.

"Talk to your friend Malcolm," she read aloud, wondering why he had written that down. She hadn't spoken with her on again off again boyfriend for a little while but last she'd heard he was going away on some weekend excursion.

And then she put two and two together and realized the truth of the message. Without another word, she ran for her car to try and find the man the message referred to and with a little luck the truth about what happened to InGen.

A couple days later: Ludlow had finished making the necessary arrangements with the appropriate parties to liquidate Jurassic Park and was just finishing up a special round of interviews.

"Your credentials are impressive," Ludlow had to admit as he looked over the resume and various letters of recommendation for his interviewee.

"Well thank you," responded Cassie. Over the past couple of days, the Pharmaceuticals team had created forged identities for themselves and infiltrated the organization Ludlow had contracted out the work to. Although the others had been primarily hired on as laborers, Cassie was chosen to try and get hired on as a part of the programmers who would be responsible for taking care of the computer systems on-site.

"I'm curious why you never applied for a job with us when we were looking for qualified programmers a couple years back," Ludlow asked. Cassie shrugged.

"I'm a freelance programmer at heart. I don't like doing the same thing for very long," Cassie explained. "That's why I'm interested in this position now because of how temporary it is."

Ludlow nodded his head.

"You ever do any work for Biosyn?" he asked. Cassie shook her head.

"How about Pacific Pharmaceuticals?" asked Ludlow next.

"Occasionally," Cassie told him nonchalantly. She had no reason to suspect that the man knew who she really was; he just had an issue against that company.

"Doing what?" asked Ludlow curious.

"Databases, mainly," Cassie told him. "So do I have the job?"

Ludlow raised his eyebrows at that. "Forward, aren't we?"

Cassie shrugged. "Being a freelancer, I don't have time to play games."

"Nor do I," said Ludlow approvingly. "You're hired."

"Thank you," said Cassie. "When and how do I start?"

"You'll actually be leaving today for an undisclosed location of ours where you'll meet up with the other temporary programmers we've hired in preparation for your journey to our other facility. There you'll be given instruction by our head programmer on what your work will entail,"

That revelation caused Cassie to start to panic.

"What for?" she demanded. "I'm a pro with any system. I don't need any prior training."

"Well we insist. If not you can find some other work to do," Ludlow said bluntly. "Be at the airport in an hour and don't be late. The secretary can give you further instructions."

Cassie gave an insincere smile and left the room before Ludlow caught on that something was wrong. She got her instructions and then exited the building and stood out in the hot midday sun as she considered her options. She couldn't back out now, but at the same time if they were sending her where she thought they were, she'd likely be found out.

And she was on her own in coming up with a solution because Jeff and the rest of the team were busy in their new positions and couldn't be contacted and John had told them never to contact him until the mission was over.

So that left her with few options in the one hour time period she had. And then an idea occurred to her and she ran for the nearest beauty salon and bought several makeover kits and ran to her apartment and quickly began applying them without any regard and then quickly dyed her hair with whatever bottles she could get her hands on and then rushed out the door without waiting for it to dry.

Making her way to the airport, she carried her duffel bag with her and got bizarre stares from the male and female pilots of the DC-3 who were checking everyone's names and appearances with their passenger list.

"Do I even want to ask?" asked the female pilot perplexed. Cassie shrugged.

"Whenever I take a new job I give myself a makeover," she responded simply, which was an utter lie. "I just didn't have much time this go around to make myself look good."

"I can tell," said the female pilot unabashedly. "Well, take your seat because we're taking off."

Cassie gave him a forced smile and then tipped her head and bordered the plane where she got even stranger glances from the other programmers aboard. She just stowed her gear and took a seat in silence.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jennifer Flores and I'll be one of your pilots today," said the female pilot to them. "Our trip isn't going to last very long, but for security reasons you won't be able to open your window shades to see where we're going. I know it seems like cloak and dagger stuff, but it's really for your own good. Also, I'm a pilot and not your stewardess so refreshments are secured in the back and when we reach cruising speed, you are free to help yourselves to them. Otherwise, enjoy your flight."

She then slammed the cockpit door shut behind her and the plane soon took off. Unfortunately the lack of scenery visible because the windows were shut meant that she attracted most of the stares. But if her appearance meant she'd be able to complete her mission, she'd be able to put up with the brief embarrassment.

And so she powered up her portable terminal and began reading through the files John Brown had managed to dig up on InGen's Isla Sorna Facility. All the reports again indicated that they were working on genetic research, but what kind John had refused to tell them even up until now.

"But why…?" she whispered softly as she again looked at each report in meticulous detail. Seeing no answers she closed up her terminal and put it away and decided instead to focus on making herself more inconspicuous. Because there was one source she had access to that could give her answers but if she contacted that source, her cover would be blown. And so she used her makeup to further disguise herself from her regular appearance.

After a few hours flight time, the plane touched down and the team was shepherded outside. They found themselves on a dirt runway with a jungle on one side, a clearing on the other, and a single hanger and office nearby with what looked like a disassembled helicopter inside. The group was then quickly moved into a set of green SUVS that appeared which had mud covering the sides of the vehicles but Cassie could just make out the words Park on one end and she thought there was another word before it that began with a J and ended with a C. But the group was seated into the vehicles that had all the windows darkened, even the front. The vehicles then started up on automated program which surprised some of the passengers in the car but not Cassie.

After several minutes of driving, the doors opened and the group found themselves in a village that had jungle all around it along with a high perimeter fence.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said a new voice interrupting their thoughts. They all looked over to see a man standing in front of them on a bridge over a moat with a large operations building behind him. "I'm sorry for the arrangements but we do like to maintain our secrecy on this island. So if you'll all come with me."

The group was quickly herded into the building and off to the left side where they passed a tarp covering a portion of the wall that didn't appear to need any maintenance on it. But what the tarp was concealing, no one was quite sure.

After a few more moments of walking, the group entered into a conference room where a slightly overweight man with a light beard and long hair dressed in hippie clothes greeted them.

"Fellow programmers, I bid you welcome!" he said jovially. Some of the programmers who had been hired recognized the man and they breathed a collective sigh of relief that everything was back to normal.

"My name is Tim and I'm the lead programmer on this island," the man began. Cassie looked around a little anxiously.

"Are you the only programmer on this island?" she asked trying to sound genuinely curious and not scared.

"I'm not at liberty to say how many work on this island but they'd be manning the shop while I'm with you here now. Personally speaking I highly doubt you'll encounter any of them but me," Tim answered as all the tension drained from Cassie and she breathed a long inward sigh of relief. "Nice hair by the way. But anyway, let's go over the work I'll need you to do tomorrow when we get to our final destination."

Cassie relaxed and listened to Tim as he handed out the assignments. Cassie listened intently and then drew up strategies to get the information she needed without anyone knowing. Her plan had gotten past the one major hurdle that had required her to change her appearance and so she was glad that things were back on track.

After several hours of technical talks, the group of programmers was escorted to the lodge by Sam and the group was told to enjoy a warm meal on them and then go to the lobby desk and they'd be assigned their rooms. The one warning he gave was that they were not to leave the building until the next day when called upon. And so Cassie ate a meal with her fellow programmers and engaged in jovial talks about the work they were currently doing and what they hoped to be doing in the future.

One by one they filtered out to get some sleep until Cassie was the only one left writing furious notes in her notebook about what she had learned from Tim about InGen's OS and how she could temporarily circumvent it and dump the data she needed. She was so wrapped up in her work that she barely registered someone enter the dining area behind her and start serving up some food. Cassie didn't bother to acknowledge the person as she was interested in quickly finishing up her work so she could go to sleep. Tomorrow would be a very busy day for her.

Behind her, the individual picked up some silverware and then made their way to a table. Cassie continued to be oblivious to the other individual until the tray was slammed down on the side of the table across from her. Instantly looking up and ready to snap at the new individual, it was upon seeing who it was that the color drained from her face. Standing there was a young woman about her age with an InGen identification badge showing she worked in the tech area.

The woman sat down across from her and slowly began munching on some toast with a bemused look on her face.

"Can I help you?" asked Cassie trying to fake a British Accent in an attempt to delay what she knew was the inevitable outcome of this situation.

"No, I'm okay," Sheila Matula responded with a big smile as she looked over the woman's appearance with the multi-colored hair and strange choice of makeup application and shook her head in shame.

"So then what do you want?" Cassie continued, wishing this conversation wasn't happening. Sheila ran through a number of different things she could say before she broke out into a large smile and knew there was only one thing to say.

"I swear, Cassie, there are some days when I'm embarrassed to be your twin sister," Sheila responded simply as Cassandra Matula's head instantly dropped to the table in defeat as her sibling laughed her head off.

She was busted big time.

San Diego, Biosyn HQ: Lewis Dodgson sat at his chair as Howard King came in.

"Well?" he asked.

"Our team has successfully infiltrated the organization Ludlow is using to dispose of Jurassic Park assets," King confirmed.

"And what about Pacific Pharmaceuticals?" asked Dodgson next. King nodded his head.

"It looks like they've infiltrated as well," King told him. A broad smile broke out across Dodgson's face as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk.

"Then everything is going as planned," he responded, pleased.

"I don't suppose I could be let in on this plan?" asked King hopeful. Dodgson shook his head.

"In time, perhaps, but for now just rest easy," Dodgson reassured him. "At the moment, it's up to John Brown's team to make the correct move. He'll think he's making the right move, but it'll be the wrong one and his whole plan will begin collapse from under him. And then victory will be ours."


	14. Evolution

Sorna: "Seriously, Cass, I love you and all but what happened?" Sheila asked bewildered. "You look like somebody ate a rainbow and then crapped you out."

"I'm trying to be incognito!" Cassie responded exasperated. Sheila chuckled at that.

"Good job," she said sarcastically. "Now c'mon, let's get that gunk off you before it permanently ruins your hair. And then drown you in makeup remover."

Sheila immediately stood up and Cassie looked at her dismayed.

"I can't leave this facility," she told her sister. Sheila waved off that concern.

"Ah, but you're with me so no one will care," she responded. "But if you're concerned, here's this."

Sheila took out an identification badge and then clipped it to Cassie's shirt. Looking down at the image, Cassie saw an old picture of her self on the badge and then noticed that it was a foil and so as she moved the image to see the other image embedded in, it was revealed to be a clown.

"Seriously, how did you know I'd be here?" Cassie asked as the two headed for the exit. The receptionist at the front desk gave a brief questioning glance at Cassie, but quickly let it go when she saw Sheila as her escort. Sheila walked up and grabbed Cassie's room key.

"I was kind of expecting you to be here," Sheila confessed. "I mean if there's one thing Jake Whitacre is not subtle about, it's complaining. He's been talking for a few weeks now about Pacific Pharmaceuticals meddling in his affairs and so that meant they'd likely sneak someone in to Nublar during the demolition."

The two walked down the road of the Village headed for the Workers Quarters.

"Uh, speaking of, Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu saw me when I was doing some investigations and they could ID me," Cassie told her, a little nervous. Sheila looked surprised by that revelation that her sister had been up to a lot that she wasn't aware.

"You can relax, then," she said. "It's Thursday night which means Jake and Henry will be in Jake's office watching TV. But dish, what are you up to these days!"

Cassie sighed at having revealed more than she'd have liked to, not that Sheila couldn't tell if she was lying. The twin sisters entered into the lodgings and Sheila showed Cassie to her little apartment. It was decently furnished and had assorted technical journals covering the bed and some computer terminals set up nearby.

"Enough about me, what about you?" responded Cassie. "Living on a tropical island, we should all be so lucky."

Sheila chuckled darkly at that as she entered into her bathroom and began looking for cleaning products. "It's not all fun and games. You get people at the top constantly barking orders at you wanting everything down now. People who clearly have no idea how long it takes to really get the work down or all the intricacies involved. And then top it off we've lost our two lead programmers! I can't match their experience."

Cassie nodded her head at that. "While I can't confirm or deny that I know this, I heard you lost Arnold Nedry."

"Figures," said Sheila as she emerged with several bottles in her hands. "I can't imagine a worse way to go out though, being eaten alive."

Cassie was thrown for a loop with that statement. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

Sheila was now the one surprised. "You knew Nedry bit the dust and you came here in person to raid our computers and you have no idea what's really going on with this island and Nublar?"

Cassie shook her head with a look of genuine bafflement on her face.

"I don't believe it, you really don't know," said Sheila astounded. "Your boss never told you what it was Nedry stole?"

"Embryos, but of what he never said," Cassie said, not admitting that it was more refusal to say than just by omission. "So what was it?"

"Go look out that window while I prepare this stuff," said Sheila bringing out a bucket and pouring different cleaners into it. Cassie looked at her skeptical but got up and walked to the window which showed the overlay of the village and then off past the electrified fence and into the jungle.

"What am I looking for?" asked Cassie staring out at the setting sun.

"You'll see," said Sheila consulting her watch. "They'll be by any minute now."

Cassie continued watching, wondering what her sister could be so coy about.

SWOOP

And then a group of shadows crossed overhead as three Pterodactyls soared overhead and over the jungle below and a group of Brachiosaurs lifted their heads from the tree tops to watch them soar by before bellowing loudly. Cassie turned away from the window and her whole body was involuntarily shaking.

"Oh…my…God," she said and held her stomach tightly before she ran to the bathroom and threw up.

"You're going to Jurassic Park tomorrow. But for now, welcome to The Lost World," Sheila announced unapologetically as she continued mixing the ingredients.

Operations Building: Jake and Henry were watching TV as Sam rattled off the plan for disassembling Sorna.

"Are we going to get the Rex at least?" asked Jake, hopeful.

"My understanding is that all stock is to be liquidated," Sam responded grimly.

"And that's definitely it as far as new supplies are concerned?" asked Henry. Sam nodded his head as he consulted his clipboard.

"It certainly looks that way. We've slowly been getting the reserves off of Indigo and the last of it will be coming over shortly," Sam explained. "We're going to be up the creak sooner than we know because we're coming up on eighty days until the fences collapse."

"Yikes," said Jake whistling at that number. "Well we've done everything we can to slow production to the minimum level on our end."

"And so has everyone else, but all that served to do is allow us to meet that deadline Nicolette calculated in the first place," said Sam scratching the back of his head. "I don't know, I just don't know."

"And we can't get fuel from Nublar?" asked Henry. Sam shook his head.

"My understanding is that corporate needs to sell off all that fuel plus most of the other supplies as well just to break even with taking the park apart," Sam answered. "Jurassic Park was to be our sole source of revenue for the DRP Project, I don't need to remind you of that. Now we've got nothing. It's because we were primarily borrowing from investors that we never had much more supplies than we needed on a daily basis. It's also why we have such few personnel who duplicate tasks on these islands. Hence all these external programmers and others that are being contracted out to take apart Nublar."

Jake and Henry nodded their heads, but there was little they could do about any of it.

"So what's this I hear about one of the programmers looking she fell into a vat of paint?" asked Henry as Sam turned to leave. Sam stopped and chuckled at that.

"I don't pretend to understand," he said with a mild grin. "Good night."

The two waved him off and then turned to each other.

"If they do send us any dinosaurs from JP, should we check genders?" asked Jake. Henry nodded his head.

"Inconspicuously of course, provided they find no infant dinosaurs at any point," he answered. "Course, if they're…"

RING RING RING

Henry and Jake exchanged a confused look as to who would be calling Jake this late at night, but Jake shrugged and reached for the phone.

"If this isn't an incredibly beautiful woman, I'm hanging up," he said into it. Instantly he had to hold the phone from his ear as he got an earful from whoever was on the other line.

"Hold it, Carly, calm down," said Jake into it. "What's going on? WHAT? We're on our way."

The scientist immediately got up and grabbed his jacket as Henry also got up concerned.

"What is it?" Henry demanded as he followed Jake quickly out the door and then out of the building and across the bridge.

"I don't know the specifics, but Carly said something's gone wrong with the lysine experiment," Jake answered as the two ran went into the underground garage and Jake grabbed a pair of keys.

"Should we tell Sam?" asked Henry as the two got into one of the company jeeps and Jake fired up the engine.

"It's our problem, we'll deal with it until it gets out of hand," Jake stated as the vehicle drove out through the open fence gateway and off into the jungle.

Workers Quarters: Sheila was wringing Cassie's hair trying to get most of the color out as Cassie began taking off her makeup.

"I'm literally at a loss for words," said Cassie shaking her head. "Wow."

"Yeah, but it gets kind of mundane after awhile," Sheila told her. "Course then you showed up…"

Cassie sighed, wondering when her sister would get back to that line of thought.

"I'm here of my own free will," Cassie answered. "I'm trying to find out if Nedry was bribed by a company called Biosyn and more specifically by a man named Dodgson."

"Interesting," said Sheila emotionless as she wrung out some more color.

"Did they ever try and contact you?" asked Cassie after a couple moments silence.

"No and they'd have been wasting their time," Sheila told her. "This is a thankless job at times, but the staff here puts up with my craziness. That means more to me than any paycheck."

Cassie nodded her head. Her sister had always been more a loose cannon than she was and she'd gotten let go from a number of positions because of that. Then one day she announced she'd gotten a job with InGen and virtually disappeared with only occasional word that she was still alive.

"So are you going to turn me in?" asked Cassie finally as Sheila announced that she'd done all she could for her hair barring it all being shaved off, an idea she was enthusiastic about but Cassie steadfastly refused. Her hair had mostly regained its original brown color but had some streaks of orange, yellow, and red here and there.

"I haven't decided yet," Sheila admitted as she fumbled through her keys to lock her apartment. "Go and get the elevator, would you?"

"Sure," said Cassie as she walked over and hit the button. To her surprise the door opened immediately and Sam was on the other side yawning heavily. Cassie's eyes bugged out as her jaw nearly dropped before she gathered enough resolve to keep it shut.

"Oh, evening Sheila, you're up late," said Sam through bleary and half-closed eyes. "Good job with the tour vehicles you programmed to bring in the programmers, they worked great. When can you have the rest done?"

"Uh, thanks," said Cassie, astonished she was having this conversation, but then added a line that Sheila often said. "I'll have the rest done when they get done."

"Ha, I hear that," said Sam yawning again. "Well, goodnight."

Sam wandered down the hallway towards Sheila as Cassie immediately ran into the elevator and squeezed herself up against one of the walls so she wouldn't be seen. As she did so, Sam reached Sheila who had finished locking her door and looked at Sam with the same astonished look Cassie had just given him.

"Didn't I just talk to you?" Sam asked, even sleepier as his eyes were barely open at this point. Sheila chuckled nervously.

"Sam, you're practically asleep right now, it's no wonder you're hallucinating," said Sheila trying to sound flippant. "I've got to run a quick errand, but I'd better not find you asleep in the hallway when I get back."

Sam smirked at that. "No promises."

He then continued down the hallway to this room as Sheila bolted for the elevator. After a few torturous moments, the doors closed and the tension immediately drained from Sheila and Cassie and both began laughing hysterically to the point that their sides hurt.

After getting off of the elevator, the two crossed the road to see a pair of rear headlights vanish into the jungle through the opening in the fence and then to the lobby of the lodge. The doors were locked as the receptionist had gone to sleep, so Sheila used her card to swipe them open.

"Goodnight and stay safe," Sheila requested as she gave her sister a hug.

"You too," Cassie replied. "I love you, Sheila."

"And I love you too, Cassie," said Sheila as they let go and then stated harshly. "But if you dig through those systems for anything unrelated to Nedry, I will turn you in."

"I know," said Sheila in complete understanding and then turned to look out the glass doors and past the buildings on the other side where she saw the electrified fence surrounding the village and the blinking red and blue lights. "It's not going to last is it?"

Sheila shook her head as a haunted expression came across her face. "No, it won't."

"You need anything, just ask," Cassie insisted. "I've got a boss, a good boss, and he'll get you out of this mess."

"We'll see. Until next time," said Sheila and then she tossed Cassie her room key and then was gone leaving Cassie by herself in the lobby. She took another glance at the fence and then involuntarily shivered to herself before heading for her room.

Embryonics Administration: The jeep slid to a halt in front of the building as Jake and Henry got up and ran up the stairs and into the building. As soon as they entered they could tell something was wrong as angry dinosaur roars could be heard and the sounds of cages being rattled accompanied the noise. Jake and Henry bolted into the cage room where they found Carly, the DRT Team, Collin, Abby, and Derrick standing in the space between the cages while Katrice was terrified out of her mind just outside. Around them the dinosaurs were roaring angrily and shaking or pounding against the cages with reckless abandon.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Jake trying to speak over the noise. "I thought your last report said these animals were nearly unconscious."

"They were!" Collin protested. "But about an hour ago they just all went crazy. I figured it was a last burst of energy but they haven't given up. I called Carly in here for her opinion first because she was already here but…"

Henry and Jake turned to the senior female scientist.

"I'm not a behaviorist, but something is definitely wrong here," Carly stated. "They're not responding to visual cues or stimuli and appear to be running on adrenaline alone."

The pachycephalosaurus slammed into the cage door so hard it nearly broke off of its hinges, startling them.

"What now, boss?" asked Abby finally giving voice the elephant in the room. Jake and Henry shared a brief glance.

"Alright this experiment is officially a bust," began Henry. "DRT Leader, eliminate stock two through nine. We'll see where one takes us as is and inject ten with lysine and see what happens."

"We can't just kill them!" Abby protested. "It's not their fault they're acting like this."

"Don't bring morality into this," said Jake as the rest of the group flinched when the raptor did a flying kick into the cell's steel mesh and nearly ripped clean through it. "I hope I don't need to remind you that it's us or them in eighty days."

"No," Abby said reluctantly. "It's just…"

Henry put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What we learn today may save even more of them tomorrow because our lysine reserves aren't infinite."

Abby nodded her head and then immediately left the area. But before she could get out, the raptor once more slammed into the grating and partly broke through causing her to scream in terror as Derek grabbed her and bolted out of the room with the other scientists.

"Light 'em up!" ordered Jake as he and Henry left the area. The DRT Team Leader pointed to the various cages to his team and moments later brief gunfire erupted and then was followed by silence. Jake and Henry stood with the other scientists out in the main part of the laboratory surrounding by the incubators and other scientific equipment.

"What happened here tonight is something between all of us only," Henry warned his fellow scientists. "Anyone asks what happened, just say we've moved beyond the observation phase and into analysis."

"But what exactly did happen?" Carly had to ask. She wasn't even part of this experiment; she'd just been in the wrong place at the right time.

"We'll know when we run some tests," Jake figured. "The key is to find conclusive results. So get some sleep, we'll be busier tomorrow than we've ever been."

The others nodded, still dismayed over what happened and then filtered out of the building back to the Village. Jake and Henry walked back into the cage area and saw the DRT team cleaning up the mess they had made. Two more dinosaurs were left in their cages and Jake produced a syringe of lysine and walked towards the pachycephalosaurus.

"Open it," Jake ordered. One of the DRT members threw open the door and another rushed in and tackled the small beast as Jake followed suit. The animal kicked and screamed before Jake pushed the needle through an artery on its neck and injected it with the lysine. The animals movements immediately became slower and slower until finally it stopped moving altogether having entered into a coma. Jake got up and dusted himself off from the hay that had been used to line the pen before he looked at the DRT Team Leader.

"Will that other cage hold?" he asked. The other cage held a Procompsognathus Triassicus. Although not a large animal by any means, it had put a tiny dent in the mesh at the bottom of the cage and even now was feverishly chewing on the metal to try and break free. The leader pulled out a tiny spiral notepad and began flipping through the pages.

"Based on the pressure that creature's jaw can put out, it should last," said the leader unenthusiastically.

"Then lock it up in a smaller cage with thicker bars," Henry requested. "We lose it now and we'll never get it back."

The DRT Leader nodded and pointed to a member and jerked his head and that member ran off to go find the appropriate containment device.

"What should we do with these?" asked the second in command while pointing to the dinosaur corpses. Jake sighed and then groaned heavily before yawning as he was so exhausted he could barely stand.

"We've got to get them to the morgue in the veterinary clinic," he said, not looking forward to that drive so late at night; especially as the clinic really wasn't near the village at all.

"Guess we're spending the night there," Henry figured as he yawned as well. "Let's go get suited up."

The two scientists quickly got into some protective outfits and then helped the DRT team haul the dinosaur carcasses into the team's SUV and then they set off for the veterinary clinic. Forty-five minutes later, the dinosaurs were secured in the morgue and the DRT Team was fast asleep on the various metal tables or on the floor.

But as for Jake and Henry, they were once more feverishly pouring through technical journals trying to root down what had caused the dinosaurs to go berserk.

"I can tell you've got something on your mind," observed Jake after a few moments of noticing the fellow scientist's distracted demeanor.

"I was just thinking that if Malcolm were here, he'd be rambling about Chaos Theory right now. That we've overlooked something small and now the dinosaurs might be breeding, they might be going psychotic when deprived of lysine, they might be…," Henry trailed off with a half-hearted grin on his face. Jake was too tired to even emit disappointment at that statement.

"He's a man who looks at the glass half-full and whose theory is being challenged by what we've done here. We've proven with these dinosaurs that the impossible is possible," began Jake. "That means his mathematical concepts on how the world is supposed to operate means crap. These issues we're dealing with now are just part of being involved in a startup venture with a new product being put on the market, nothing more. We'll get them ironed out and then we won't have to worry about them anymore."

"I hope so," said Henry glumly. "I hope so."

"We'll be fine, Henry. Trust me," Jake repeated as he had when they'd learned something had gone wrong on Nublar. With every day that passed, it looked less and likely that would come to fruition. But there was nothing they could about it now, they could only go forward and see what happened.

"'Something Has Survived'," Henry quoted. Jake gave him a confused look

"Site B's specific tagline. Jurassic Park's was 'An Adventure 65 Million Years in the Making'," Henry recalled. "And I can't remember what Indigo's tagline was."

"'Adventure has Evolved'," Jake filled in now that he knew what Henry was talking about. "I think. It was either that or 'Something Unexpected Has Evolved'."

"And is that what's happening now with the possible breeding and the lysine contingency?" Henry asked frankly. "Are these sixty-five million year old animals evolving in order to survive?"

That was a question neither of them had an answer for.


	15. The Best Laid Plans

The sun arose on a foggy morning in San Diego. As the mist slowly parted over the InGen Waterfront Complex, a large vessel pulled into port. It appeared to be brand new as its crisp edges glistened in the morning light giving it a brilliant aura. The side of the new vessel read SS Venture, an apparent reference to an old black and white film that had helped to inspire the Dinosaur Revivification Project called _King Kong_, and it was ready to receive the passengers and cargo waiting for it on the docks. The workers all looked battle hardened and ready for a fight and they were going to get one once they reached their destination, an island off the coast of Costa Rica.

Amongst them were Jeff, Serena, Lorne and the final member of the team besides Sheila, a man who said little but when he did it was something that needed to be heard, Chip. They were each assigned to different details of the planned demolition for Jurassic Park in the hopes that one of them would be able to discover the delivery device Nedry had used to try and smuggle the embryos off the island. To this end, they were all equipped with a portable high tech communications device that John had provided them with. It was based on another company's efforts into frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio technology, which they codenamed Project: Bluetooth. It had limited battery life and could only be used sporadically, but it gave them an opportunity to communicate without InGen knowing about it.

And at the same time communicate without Biosyn knowing about it as well. Although they had no proof that InGen's rival company had infiltrated this operation, they strong suspected they had. And so it remained a silent race to see whoever found the shaving cream can first that was full of InGen embryos.

As the teams were boarding the ship, a flashy red Ferrari Testarossa rolled into the dockyards seemingly at odds with the gruff appearances of the workers. The vehicle continued onwards down the dock until its headlights shone on a trio of individuals who were standing in front of a camouflage pained SUV. A moment later the car powered down and Richard Levine emerged with a bag slung over his shoulder and a large cup of coffee in his hands.

"H-hey you guys, wh-what's up?" asked Levine as his words were a little slurred and he stumbled a little bit as he walked towards the trio. Doc Thorne sighed to himself as Levine had clearly been up the night partying and binge drinking over his excitement to be going to Isla Sorna. And from the looks of things he was nursing a large hangover while still being a little bit hammered.

"You know you shouldn't drink and drive," Kelly reminded him pointedly. She knew the damage alcohol could cause to people, it had nearly torn her family apart when she was younger and so she vowed never to touch the stuff. Levine just grumbled a noncommittal reply to that and looked at the vehicle the trio was standing by.

"What's that?" he asked, wanting to move onto other topics than him needing to be a teetotaler. The vehicle was a Mercedes-Benz W463 SUV but it was heavily modified with all sorts of strange equipment attached to it.

"This is a new toy I want to test out on Sorna," Thorne answered. "It's entirely electric and also contains a number of scientific survey devices that can aid teams in the field. I want to see how it holds up and this is as good an opportunity as any to try it."

"Why a Benz, why not the old Explorers you always used to use?" asked Levine blinking his eyes a couple of times behind his thick sunglasses to keep focused and not pass out.

"Because Mercedes asked," asked Thorne bluntly. "If this test pans out and the vehicles can be mass-marketed to scientists, then they've promised me early access to the M-Class W163 when it comes out in '97 that I think will be even just as promising for field work."

"Hooray," said Levine nonplussed before looking at the boat. "Should we board?"

"We kind of have to wait for our liaison with InGen to arrive first," Arby reminded Dr. Levine, knowing fully aware that the Doctor rarely bothered to keep track of the details in favor of the bigger picture.

"Well I'll go find them then," said Levine immediately and trudged off into the mist. The others thought about telling him that they were instructed by the InGen personnel at the gate to meet the representative where they were, and that Levine had been told the same thing only he was apparently too drunk to pay attention. And so they let him go, not wanting to risk having him get annoyed at them in the state he was in.

Instead they stared in discomfort at the heavy weaponry they workers were carrying past them. Besides the workers, pieces of heavy equipment were also rolling by, everything from light utility vehicles equipped with harnesses and other capture devices to large cages and more, all of which were then carried by crane and deposited into the hold of the ship.

And with every piece that went by them, Doc Thorne's disposition grew more and more moody.

"You recognize that stuff?" asked Arby, observant as always. Thorne slowly nodded his head.

"I designed just about everything you see out there," he admitted reluctantly with just a hint of anger in his tone. Arby and Kelly were surprised by that and then looked at the equipment in a new light.

"So they're going on a…safari?" asked Kelly a little unsure since that didn't explain the heavy weapons or the sheer amount of equipment needed.

"No, they're not going on any safari," Thorne disagreed. "I never built those vehicles rather the designs were just bought from me by an unknown party. Judging by that logo I can see on the vehicles, InGen took the designs to the Palo Alto Equipment Corp. of Engineers. They're a private construction firm that primarily contracts out to the military. And they've got a lot of this stuff, more than you'd ever need for a simple time in the bush. So no, they're not going on safari; they're going to war."

Kelly shot a look at Arby, silently asking what he'd gotten her into now by his signing the non-disclosure agreement and her then going along with him. But Arby was now staying silently reflective as he watched the procession board the boat as if he was slowly adding up a number of loose ends to come up with one solid picture of what InGen was up to.

"I-," began Kelly when a new figure emerged from the mist. She was female and had a professional dark business suit on with matching skirt. Hanging by her side was a professional satchel and she also had a rolling suitcase that she was dragging behind her.

"Ah, hello," the woman said with a pleasant smile. "My name is Samantha Brown and I am part of InGen's Board of Directors and it's a pleasure to meet you all finally."

She extended her hand to Thorne and he shook it and was followed by Arby and finally Kelly. Kelly stood in stark contrast to the well manicured and groomed woman as she was again in her Sarah Harding inspired outfit, but Ms. Brown didn't seem to even notice as she was far too concerned about the day's events.

"Have any of you seen Doctor Levine?" she asked, finally noticing his car but not where he was.

SPLASSHHH

The sound of a body falling into the bay answered followed by a string of curses helped to answer that question.

Indigo: Daniela St. Ives was on the docks with the entire team.

"Alright boys and girls, this is the big leagues," she informed them. "The SS Venture is going to be coming through her stock full of InGen contracted personnel and supplies intended to deal with the biological assets on Nublar. Once they've cleaned up the mess, the Anne B. will be pulling through with equipment to take apart everything else. Our job is a big one but this is the same amount of work we would've had if Jurassic Park had taken off so we should be fine. Just keep on your toes through all of this, that's all I ask. Good luck."

The workers nodded and then broke up into their teams to be further briefed by their supervisors. Daniela watched them go before returning to her office and preparing herself for what was to come. Samantha was going to be on that boat and she had requested that Daniela travel with her to Sorna to discuss the future of the three islands. She knew the news would be bad, which is why she had spent the last few days preparing a counterargument for what she expected the news to be. All that remained was her vain hope that Samantha would give her a fair hearing.

Sorna: "You want to explain all this?" Gerry asked as he leaned against one of the metal tables adorning the Clinic. He and his team of veterinary assistants had arrived early that morning to continue cataloging what supplies they had received from Indigo only to find Jake, Henry and the DRT team asleep and several new dinosaur carcasses in the freezers. Jake had summarily dismissed the DRT to return to the Village as they'd be needed as consultants for the Nublar operation and stayed behind with Henry to allay Gerry's fears.

"Its part of the lysine experiment that we're working on," Jake answered simply. "All we need to do now is to perform autopsies for further analysis."

"And the bullets currently lodged in the bodies won't disrupt that analysis?" asked Gerry pointedly. Jake looked to Henry for help with that one.

"Every experiment runs risks," Henry said simply. A phone rang nearby and one of the workers went to answer it.

"So you won't tell me what really happened?" Gerry said bluntly while not happy about their avoidance of his question.

"Sorry, no," said Jake firmly while trying think up something more apologetic to say next. The worker came up and then interrupted them before he got the chance.

"Doctors Wu and Whitacre are needed back at base," the worker stated simply and then retreated from the growing tension in the room.

"Sorry, Gerry, but duty calls," said Henry apologetically and then he and Jake left without another word. The veterinarian watched them go suspiciously but didn't say anything to stop them.

"Sir?" asked one the veterinary assistants after Harding had remained silent for several moments. "Sir, what's on today's agenda with what's going on with Jurassic Park?"

"The same thing as always with our unit," said Gerry disgusted. "Sit and wait. Sit and wait until something goes wrong and we have to clean it up."

He headed into his office and slammed the door behind him. The veterinary assistants looked at each other uncertainly before they went back to their cataloging of supplies.

Pacific Ocean: The SS Venture plowed through the waves as it headed south towards Isla Indigo. The workers were all sequestered down in the hold and were finally being instructed on what their mission was. To say that they were being met with disbelief about the island containing dinosaurs was an understatement. Up top, the same held true for Arby, Kelly, and Thorne as they were out on the deck with Samantha Brown.

"Last time I checked, there are no dinosaurs," said Kelly as if that should be obvious. "I mean, sure, there's been movies and books have humans and dinosaurs living side by side, but c'mon, that dinosaurs have been on an island for sixty-five million years is impossible."

"That's actually not what I'm saying," stated Samantha. "The dinosaurs haven't been alive all these years. Instead, we recreated them using DNA strands we procured."

"Really, how?" asked Arby innately curious. Samantha gave him a light smile.

"I'm afraid that's a trade secret," she informed him. "But the purpose of your inspection won't involve inspecting our gene sequencing facilities. It will be to give a valid assessment of your beliefs of the sustainability of Site B for the long term."

"If I might ask, what happened to Site A?" asked Thorne butting in as he looked at the various vehicles and other heavy equipment lining the deck while below they could hear muffled voices discussing the operations for the island.

"We had an accident," said Samantha trying to choose her words carefully. "As such we need to do some major cleanup and this is it. In the interests of timeliness, we chose to have the inspection begin at the same time we began…liquidation procedures."

Arby and Kelly's eyes bugged out at that as Thorne showed no signs of emotion as he continued to lean with his arms crossed against the modified W463.

"If you need anything more specific, I'd ask that you consult your packets first and then come to me with any questions," Samantha requested before she consulted her watch. "We should be at Indigo in less than an hour where we'll disembark so if you'll excuse me, I have to speak with Mr. Levine in private."

Samantha tipped her head politely at them and then walked off into the ship's tower leaving the trio behind.

"Is she on the level or is this some elaborate hoax?" asked Kelly perplexed.

"No one would go to this length for a hoax, not even Richard," said Thorne dismissively as he again looked at the equipment on the deck. "More importantly, what she said fits with rumors I heard back in the day about InGen's operations out here."

"Like?" asked Arby. Thorne shrugged.

"About five years back or so, I was contacted by an investigator for the Federal Trade Commission who gave me a list of assets InGen was transferring to their Costa Rica offices," Thorne began. "There were supercomputers, gene sequencers, electrified fences; the works. I didn't know what to make of it then and when Richard gave me an updated list of InGen's technological assets just the other day; I didn't know what to make of it now either. But creating dinosaurs would fit the bill."

The two teenagers considered the implications of that.

"And then they had an accident," Kelly shuddered.

"I doubt that, more like corporate sabotage," Arby figured and then saw the questioning glances from Thorne and Kelly. "Well I did some research on InGen on my own and found lists of assets InGen acquired over the years. I'll admit that they were probably still working out the kinks in their system even to this day, but only a full out system failure would result in actions like what's going on with this boat being necessary."

Thorne nodded his head. "Well, kids I have equipment to calibrate with my SUV here before we get to where we're going so you'll just have to entertain yourselves for a little while."

"I could help," Arby offered perking up at the thought of handling technology.

"Oh no, you don't," said Kelly grabbing onto his hand and dragging him away. "You're going to tell me everything you know about InGen and what it is you've once again gotten me into."

"But…but…," protested Arby as Kelly pulled him from sight. Thorne chuckled to himself at their antics before getting into the SUV and toggling the sensor technology onboard. An instant later audio began filtering in from the conversations going on below in the hold and elsewhere around the ship. He then filtered through the conversations until he found what he was looking for.

"Mister Levine, if you're finished complaining, we do have things we need to discuss," began Samantha wherever she was. Thorne instantly pulled out a tape recorder and plugged an audio cable from the recorder to the audio feed and began recording. If there was more to this picture, he needed to know about it. With dinosaurs involved, there were just too many risks involved.

San Diego: John Brown was in his office reading once more through all the data he had collected on InGen and Biosyn. It was all information he'd read a million times before, but he continued going over it in the hopes he'd find some nugget of information he hadn't seen before. But he couldn't find anything eye-opening and so the executive leaned back in his chair and thought about his wayward team now going to Jurassic Park and finding out the truth he couldn't bring himself to tell them.

InGen had really opened Pandora's Box when they'd found a way to recreate dinosaurs and they'd paid dearly for that knowledge. All knowledge came with great risk and John knew that better than most being part of a major pharmaceuticals company. The question always was, was that risk worth the knowledge being gained. InGen clearly hadn't considered the consequences and now that they were cleaning up their mess, he wondered what Peter Ludlow was thinking now about the things his company had done in the search for profits.

John shook his head lightly; he didn't want to be in Ludlow's shoes right now. To avoid thinking about InGen, he opened his desk drawer and began fishing for a pen when he pulled out a piece of paper. It was an image of a rabbit that was created entirely in ASCII using 0s and 1s. John at first couldn't remember where he had found the paper until he recalled being in Dennis Nedry's apartment and randomly finding the paper lodged in a book about Alice and Wonderland.

"Of course, the white rabbit," said John finally making the connection as he flicked the page. He didn't know if the numbers meant anything but he decided he'd give the paper to Cassie when she returned from her mission. Until then, he had regular paperwork to be filling out.

Sorna: Jake and Henry emerged from the garage and walked down the road to the Operations Building. As they did, they passed the programmers who were entering into the automated tour vehicles.

"Hey, Tim, are you ready for today?" asked Henry as they approached the lead programmer who was checking his things for the trip.

"I think so," he said positively. "Just do me a favor and leave Sheila alone while the operation is going on. I'll need her focused on this end to make sure everything goes off without a hitch."

"Okay," said Jake pretending to be glum. "So where's the programmer with the wacky hair?"

"She toned it down last night, unfortunately," Tim informed him. "Anyway, she was on one of the first explorers and it's already on its way back to the airstrip. We're just picking up the stragglers now."

"Nuts," said Jake disappointed. "Oh well; good luck."

"Thanks," said Tim as the final programmer entered into the vehicle and Tim got it in as well and it moved off towards the airstrip. Jake and Henry immediately headed to the Operations Building and were passed by the DRT Team who were fully suited up and also headed for Jurassic Park. After passing them, the duo entered into the building and was directed by the receptionist to Sam's office where they entered and found him on the radio.

"Hey, Ed, they just came in," said Sam to Ed Regis who was onboard the SS Venture and was also in charge of the demolishing of Jurassic Park.

"I thought you weren't going back to that island?" asked Jake jovially.

"It's not like I had a choice," Ed complained. "We all have our orders."

"True," Henry admitted. "So what's up?"

"My understanding is that when the programmers reach the Visitor's Center, most of the remote cameras and motion trackers are no longer in working order. Since your little expedition got further inland than mine's did, I need you two to be on call about what it's like once we head further inland when we reach any gaps," Ed explained.

"We'd be happy to but we didn't see a whole lot," Henry admitted. "Although I'd say right off the bat, that the lodge is a more secure location than the Center."

"Thanks, that's where we were thinking about setting up our base of operations," Ed agreed. "If there's anything else please pass it along."

"We will," Henry promised and then he and Jake left so that Sam and Ed could continue ironing out their collaborative efforts in retaking Jurassic Park. The two scientists exited the building and stood on the stairs for a moment.

"End of an era now that the Park will be no more," Jake commented. Henry nodded his head.

"During the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic gave way to the Jurassic before giving way to the Cretaceous," he told his friend. "Maybe that's what's happening now."

"I just hope we're not entering the Cretaceous then," said Jake wryly. "Because as I recall that ended with the K-T Extinction Event."

Henry chuckled heavily at that as the two headed to go get cleaned up and some breakfast before the day's events began.

Indigo: The SS Venture, her personnel, her crew, and everything else on the island was being searched as the DC-3 plane from Sorna came in for a landing nearby. The technicians were taken back off the plane and then their things were heavily inspected before being allowed onto the boat. As for Doc Thorne, Kelly, Arby, and Richard Levine; after they were searched, Samantha took them to the Indigo's Visitor Center.

"We'll be taken by the plane to Sorna because the Venture will be tied up with our Nublar operation," Samantha explained. Behind them, Doc saw his SUV being brought to the ground.

"Unfortunately Mr. Thorne, your vehicle will have to wait here until our second cargo ship arrives in a week or so to take additional supplies to Nublar and then finally comes to Sorna," Samantha apologized.

"Just so long as you're aware that Mobile Field Systems proprietary technology is present onboard that vehicle," Thorne warned her. "I'm sure you can appreciate the need for privacy when it comes to new technology."

"I give you my assurance on behalf of InGen that only a brief search of your vehicle will be conducted to make sure that it contains no illegal items that are banned from these islands," Samantha assured him, though she deigned to mention what those items might be.

"Very well," Thorne acquiesced as he knew he had no choice in the matter.

"So no dinosaurs on this island?" asked Levine disappointed as he sipped his large fountain drink.

"No, I'm afraid not," answered Samantha diplomatically as they headed up the stairs to the Center. "This island is basically our equivalent of international customs. We briefly experimented with transferring dinosaurs between Sorna to Indigo to Nublar but we abandoned the idea after preliminary testing with the first batch sent to Nublar. Any dinosaurs shipped to Jurassic Park from Site B would be sent direct."

The group entered into the rotunda area where the skeletons of the brachiosaur and tyrannosaur were locked in battle.

"We've prepared a lunchtime meal for you before taking the plane to Sorna. If you'll just go through those double doors over there you should find the dining room on the other side. In the meantime, I have business with the head of this island so I won't be joining you again until we leave in an hour," said Samantha as she tilted her head goodbye and then walked off up the stairs to the second level. The others watched her go before they turned to each other.

"You kids have fun, I'm going for a look around," said Levine immediately and walked off into the building without another word.

"And I'm going to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Thorne replied and headed off after him. Kelly and Arby now looked to each other uncertain what to do next. And then Kelly's stomach rumbled and her mind was made up.

"I bet I can eat more plates of food than you can," she teased to Arby as they entered the dining area.

Upstairs: Samantha entered into Daniela's office where she found the head of Indigo sitting behind the desk with a haggard look on her face from total lack of sleep.

Samantha sat down in the seat on the other side and sighed, knowing fully well the reason for Daniela's appearance. "I'm sorry, Danni, we don't have any choice."

"I know you didn't," Daniela agreed. "But I'm warning you now; the steps you make today will affect us negatively for as long as they're in place. This is the end and it starts now. In less than eighty days those fences will fail and we'll all be dead."

"And I pray it doesn't come to that," Samantha responded in kind. "But in the meantime, here's how it's going to go down when we merge the staff of the two islands onto Sorna…"

Seventy-nine days until total fence collapse.

A/N: I'm going to do a better job of keeping track of how many days are left until the fences fail. Otherwise the numbers won't make any sense regarding date progression. Basically I'd say we're at a period that's approximately three weeks after the Jurassic Park incident. The day of this chapter being a Friday whereas Jurassic Park collapsed on a Saturday night and everyone evacuated on Sunday.


	16. The Destruction of Jurassic Park

Nublar: The SS Venture reached the east dock and settled into its berth. From the stairs that descended to the dock below, several workers wearing outfits approximate to the DRP Team rushed down them and fanned out to secure the immediate area. Once that was done, the crane located nearby was quickly commandeered and put to work placing the pallets full of equipment inside the boat outside on the ground near the dock.

"Alright gentlemen, get that stuff unloaded and stowed where it belongs," ordered Jeff Thomas. Because of his experience in conducting field operations, he had been placed in charge of many of the important duties involving the handling of the equipment. Truth be told, he was glad for the constant need to focus his attention because his head was still reeling from hearing that dinosaurs were alive on this island. All the time he'd wondered along with the rest of the team what was going on with InGen and this island and now that he knew, he wondered if he'd been better off in the dark.

"How are things going?" asked Ed Regis on the docks as well and a little spooked by once more being on this island.

"We're on schedule," Jeff admitted before adding. "But then again we haven't yet gone beyond the tree line yet."

"I know," said Ed shuddering involuntarily as he looked at the jungle beyond. "But hopefully once the dilophosaurs are contained or eliminated, the battle will become much easier."

"And you're still not certain how many of these creatures exist on this island?" asked Jeff a little unsettled by that fact, especially as Ed Regis had not mentioned why this was the case.

"I've been told that from one end of this island to the next, there'd better not be a creature left standing when we're done," Ed informed him and then clapped him on the shoulder. "And we've got a limited window of opportunity to get it done so let's roll out!"

"Right," agreed Jeff all business and then turned to the men. "Get the civilian vehicles unloaded and then get the programmers onto them. Once we've scouted ahead, we'll give the go ahead. Two car escort and don't stop until you hit the Visitors Center. Now teams 4, 5, 6, and 7 with me for the preliminary sweep!"

"I'm going too," Ed insisted. Jeff shook his head.

"Too dangerous, he pointed out. "We'll clear out the area first and then you can come in."

Ed shook his head. "There's something I need to look at it right away and it's not very far down the road."

"And that would be?" asked Jeff feigning ignorance that he was well aware that Nedry's crashed jeep was nearby.

"Don't worry about it," said Ed dismissively. "Team 1 will go in first with me and then we'll send in your preliminary sweep."

"I think that's a mistake," Jeff replied bluntly.

"Maybe," said Ed shrugging. "But it's mine to make."

"Okay, but I still think you'll need us first, but I'll go back to supervising the unloading," said Jeff knowing when to back down. If Regis got his hands on the can of shaving cream, it'd be more difficult for the Pacific Pharmaceuticals team to get their hands on it. But their cover being blown would make the task impossible.

"On second thought, why don't you also send team 3 to go and check out the nearest perimeter fence," Ed ordered. Jeff scratched the back of his head at that, confused.

"I thought the preliminary research said the fences were all turned on," Jeff recalled from the briefing. Ed nodded his head.

"But unfortunately the monitoring equipment can only tell us if the fence is receiving power, not if there's any damage to parts of the fence and so some of the rest might not be getting power," the head of marketing informed the Pacific Pharmaceuticals team member. "So let's do it to it."

Jeff tipped his head in acknowledgment and left without another word as he prepped Team 3 for their mission and Team 1 slipped into the jungle and out of sight, the trees almost seeming to enclose their only means of escape.

Sorna: "I don't see why we had to be here," Jake grumbled as he fiddled with his tie for the umpteenth time with Henry nodding his head in agreement. He was in his business suit along with Henry, Gerry, Sam, and Doctor Roberta Carter who mostly wore similar formal attire. Needless to say, wearing dark suits in the blistering heat wasn't any fun as the group waited by the runway for the DC-3 to arrive with the investigative team.

"Oh, I don't think it's that bad," said Bobbie with a mischievous grin on her face. She was in her white surgical outfit as she never knew when she might need to be called away for a medical emergency and it helped her beat the heat. Jake grumbled something unintelligible at that as Bobbie laughed at his reaction.

"It's either this or have Samantha mad at us," Sam reminded them. That was something nobody wanted. Samantha was normally a very nice and considerate person, but if you embarrassed her or made her look like a fool, her wrath would make you wish you were dead.

"But if you'd just convinced Sam and Jennifer to try and land that whale down the main road in the Workers Village, we could be hanging out inside drinking lemonade until they showed up and then we could rush outside and pretend we were always standing there," Jake continued. Sam just shook his head in shame at that.

"Do you not remember suggesting that earlier to Jennifer only to be told over the radio 'Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Yankee Oscar Uniform!'?" the head of Sorna reminded the scientist in partial reference to the NATO Phoentic Alphabet.

"I don't speak Latin," Jake said refusing to give in as he lazily kicked a nearby pebble. "But remind me again who it is that's supposed to be on this little shindig?"

Sam sighed as he once more repeated the names of those who were coming over.

"What about Marty?" asked Henry curious about the absence of the constant nuisance in Jake and his side, Doctor Martin Gutierrez. Sam rechecked his notes.

"Oh oops, sorry, he's with them too. He actually came to Indigo a little bit earlier to try and figure something out about some investigations he recently had deep in the Costa Rican jungle," Sam answered while he consulted his notes. Henry groaned at that.

"He was probably on some wild goose chase to try and prove some dinosaur is running through the jungles and then when he couldn't find any evidence, he'd blame us anyway," the scientist complained while Jake nodded his head in agreement. Bobbie scoffed at their sentiments.

"When I met the man, he didn't seem that bad," she retorted. Jake and Henry chuckled hysterically at that statement as Bobbie became a little steamed at their response.

"Alright you three, quit screwing around," Sam said butting in and trying to prevent a war of words. Everyone was tense at the moment because of Nublar and everything else and he didn't need things to escalate. "Departmental reports, now."

That got groans out of everyone to Sam's pleasure as it took their minds off of other matters.

"Bobbie," Sam began as he Roberta fished in her coat for a small notepad which she took out and leafed through.

"Minor cuts and scrapes, the occasional twisted ankle, nothing out of the ordinary," she noted. "We've finished the inventory of our supplies the other day and right now I've got my team reviewing notes and running drills on performing triage…for when the fences fail."

That statement immediately brought down the enthusiasm of the crowd.

"I'm still operating under the assumption that we will still be on this island when that happens," said Bobbie softly, desperately hoping to be wrong. Sam sighed and looked away not sure how to respond.

"So we are," Gerry figured groaning while responding for the head of Sorna's inability to.

"I don't know," Sam confessed looking at them. "But I've got Kevin and Jennifer figuring out how long it will take to completely evacuate the island. Once they let me know the numbers, I'll have a better idea about what our options are once we get closer to the point of no return."

"I can't believe we don't have a contingency plan in place to evacuate this place," Bobbie stated in disbelief. Sam shrugged as he leaned against the side of the hanger, but immediately thought better of it as the metal was extremely hot due to the sun.

"We never thought things would go sour this far into the project," he offered simply before adding. "But, we do have a contingency plan in place. It's not designed to evacuate the island, but hopefully it'll help us out anyway."

"Well spill, what does it involve?" asked Bobbie needing to know to calm her nerves. Sam chuckled nervously at that.

"I'm not allowed to go into the details, only that the plan exists and will be utilized once certain circumstances arise," was all he admitted to. "When that happens, then you'll know."

Bobbie couldn't believe her ears that there was some plan that could be used that would save a lot of lives in the coming days, but the head of the island wouldn't use it.

"So who knows about this plan?" she demanded next, using her years of medical training to search for alternatives to finding out the information.

"On this island, I know the details along with Jake, Henry, and Gerry, while Lori knows that a plan exists and can gain access to the details in an emergency situation. Daniela I'll fill in once the staffs of the two islands are merged," Sam answered. Bobbie crossed her arms in front of her chest as she toyed with her stethoscope with one hand.

"And I'm not allowed to know why?" she asked at a loss. Sam looked at her with an expression that told the whole story.

"Because if you're the only one left of the senior staff, then there'll be nothing on this island left saving," he said bluntly and then placed his hand on her shoulder for reassurance as he stared at her. "We all trust with our lives, all we ask is that you do the same for us."

Bobbie looked away from his gaze a little ashamed but then turned to face him.

"Alright," she conceded, backing down from her protests. "I'll let it go. But I'm warning you all now. I am responsible for the lives of 321 people on this island and probably am also going to be responsible for the 50 or 60 coming over from Indigo. If I find out you're putting them in harm's way, I will relieve you of duty as defined in my contracted scope of power as the medical practitioner on this island."

Sam gave her a lopsided grin as he dropped his arm back down to his side. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Silence then fell over the group before the sound of an engine coming to a halt was heard and everyone turned to see Lori Ruso and Nicolette Stefrassa exit their vehicle and approach them. The two regarded the mellow situation before them with curiosity…or at least Lori did, Nicolette didn't seem to care.

"What did we miss?" asked Lori concerned as she looked around at the group's demeanor. And then she saw Bobbie's notepad in her hand and her expression turned to shock.

"You didn't already give your monthly reports did you?" she asked upset. And then she turned to Jake and Henry, although more to Jake.

"What did you say this time?" she demanded as she pulled out her briefcase and took out a heavy document. Jake's expression turned to a stunned stupor at this turn of events.

"I-uh-um…," he stammered, not sure what to say for this abrupt line of questioning. Lori groaned at that.

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly and then held up the multi-page document. "I told you yesterday that I was going to be a little late to the rendezvous because I had to include a section about what would be the future of the production facilities after the fences fail!"

Jake glared at her. "I didn't say anything!" he protested in vain, finally speaking up for himself.

"Oh, sure," Lori scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "Just like the last time you 'didn't say anything' at a monthly report when I was sick and then after I got better I had to explain to the top brass what was really going on with the production facilities."

Lori was about to continue ranting when she saw the stunned looks from the others.

"What?" she asked at a loss. Bobbie began shaking as her lips suddenly began buzzing before she broke down and started laughing hysterically at the outburst and soon Henry, Sam, Jake and Gerry were as well. Lori looked around confused before she realized that Jake really hadn't said anything and her face dropped down into her hands in humiliation.

"I don't suppose you could help someone with their foot in their mouth?" she asked of Bobbie. The resident MD shook her head as she wiped a tear from her face.

"Sorry, LoRu, I'm not a dentist," she remarked offhand and choked back a couple more giggles. Lori nodded her head expecting that reply when a thought occurred to her as she saw Jake kneeling over holding his sides from laughing so hard.

"But you do help with back injuries right?" she asked. Bobbie stopped laughing and gave a strange look as she used her sleeve to wipe some spit off her mouth.

"Uh-huh," she confirmed, a little confused and suspicious. Lori nodded her head curtly and then became completely focused as she hefted the thick report in her hand and then walked over to Jake. She then lifted up the document in her hands and smacked him hard against the back causing the scientist to collapse in a heap on the ground.

"My suit…," Jake complained with a modicum of false sadness as he still lay on the ground.

"You deserved that," Lori remarked snootily and then helped the scientist back up to his feet and brushed some dirt off of his suit. But before anyone could say anything else, the sounds of an airplane was heard as the DC-3 came into view from over the tree line being flanked by a pair of pterodactyls. The trio of objects soared overhead before the plane turned away from the two dinosaurs and made for a landing on the airstrip. The two pterodactyls waved their wings in a show of respect and then quickly soared downwards passed the plane and over the heads of the workers on the ground before heading off into the distance as the plane landed.

"Let's go meet the new neighbors," Sam quipped as the group approached the plane whose engines were slowly coming to a halt. The rear door opened and Jennifer appeared and placed the steps leading to the ground before hopping out.

"To our distinguished passengers, thank you for flying Jurassic Air with non-stop flights from San Jose to Isla Indigo, Jurassic Park, and Site B. We hope you enjoy your stay on our little island, but please don't feed the local wildlife. Thank you and have a nice day."

The passengers emerged from the plane with their luggage and Samantha Brown led them over to the workers.

"It's good to see you again Samantha," said Sam holding out his hand which Samantha immediately shook and then turned to the rest of the workers.

"Thank you all for making it out here today," she said, pleased. "I know things have been a little stressful as of late and that you haven't really been getting the kind of direction you've needed from HQ and the board. But that's all about to change. I'm here now and during my stay I'll be laying out the future for Site B and InGen. But in the meantime I have introductions to make…"

"Ah, I already know the important people," said Richard Levine dismissively. "I'm going to go find me a dinosaur."

He instantly headed off for the jungle just beyond the airstrip without another word leaving Samantha a little steamed at him for his constant inability to follow the rules she'd laid out for his stay.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," Henry warned of the departing Levine. The doctor stopped in his tracks upon hearing that as light dinosaur noises could be heard in the distance.

"And why not?" he demanded. Henry shrugged lightly.

"Because that way will get you to the Velociraptor enclosure," he responded. "And while we're constantly doing everything we can to stop them from escaping, I'd rather you didn't give them an incentive to get creative."

Levine looked at the jungle line with a mixture of fear of grumpiness before turning around and heading back to the group as Samantha gave a silent thank you to Henry for his assistance.

"Now then, how about some introductions?" the Board Member asked, eager to get this day off on the right foot once again. "I suppose I'll start off with introducing the senior staff on the island. First we have the head of Site B, Sam Stone. Next we have Lori Ruso, she's in charge of the production facilities on this island and pretty much the second in command of this entire island. After that we have Doctors Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu who are the head researchers on this island. This here is Doctor Gerry Harding who is our veterinarian…"

Kelly instantly perked up at that. "You're not related to Doctor Sarah Harding are you?" she asked hopeful. Gerry chuckled at her statement because he'd wondered why this young woman's attire and demeanor reminded him so much of his daughter's.

"Guilty as charged," he remarked and then nodded his head at her approvingly and then warned. "But I hope your interest in her goes beyond just outward appearance."

Kelly immediately sobered up and nodded her head. "I'm as committed to wildlife conservation as she is."

Gerry nodded his head. "Great. I could make use with an animal behaviorist right now."

Kelly looked at him confused. "You don't have one? If Jurassic Park was a park then you had to have had a game warden."

The InGen workers turned sullen at that before Samantha cut back in to try and prevent the conversation from turning sour.

"All questions can wait until later," she informed them. "Next we have Doctor Roberta Carter; she's the head of medicine on this island."

"Ah, Doctor Carter," said Marty walking up and shaking her hand. "I'd heard rumors InGen hired you after your residency. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they paid you off not to say anything to me when we last met."

"And you'd be wrong," said Bobbie immediately. "But thank you, though. You convinced me to look deeper into what had happened and that got me my job here."

Marty gave her a gracious tip of the head though inwardly he was a little mad she found out the truth about these islands before he did. Kelly and Arby meanwhile she shared a blank look over what the two were talking about.

"And finally we have Nicolette Stefrassa, the head of strategic planning," Samantha concluded. Levine immediately walked up and grabbed her hand.

"I was hoping there'd be a beauty amongst the beasts," he told her as he tried to kiss her hand. Nicolette immediately yanked her hand away before he got the chance.

"This of course is Doctor Richard Levine," said Samantha once more butting in before Nicolette had the chance to slap the man. "And next we have Doctor Martin Gutierrez and Jack Thorne."

"Sure are a lot of doctors around," Arby commented wryly to Kelly.

"Oh, hush," she said amused and lightly pushed him to the side.

"Hey Jack, long time no see," said Gerry shaking the head of Mobile Field System's hand. Doc nodded his head.

"Finally got a chance to see where you work for a change," the man remarked looking around. "Your daughter sure wanted to get the same opportunity, though."

"Well, when you've seen one dinosaur you've seen them all," the veterinarian responded. Doc nodded his head as if receiving sage advice.

"No new devices you're testing out here?" contined Gerry a little disappointed. Doc laughed.

"They've temporarily impounded it on that other island," he revealed. Gerry chuckled at that.

"And finally these young researchers are Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton," stated Samantha concluding the introductions. "Now then, we can all get…"

"Wait a minute," said Jake cutting in. "You forgot someone."

"Umm, who?" asked Samantha confused looking around. Jake pointed to Daniela St. Ives who had made the trip over along with the rest of them.

"I don't think I've ever seen _her_ on this island before," he continued innocently. Daniela shook her head at Jake in shame before walking up to him and helping him straighten his collar.

"It's very simple who I am," began Daniela as she coddled his tie and then immediately tugged on it so that it tightened around Jake's neck. "I'm the one who is going to kick your ass for being insubordinate!"

"Can't…breathe…," Jake faked being choked. He then looked to Bobbie for help but she gave him a dim look before consulting her notes.

"Since the matter of posteriors has been brought up, I'd say it's time for the new arrivals to get their shots," she announced. The others looked at her confused and dismayed.

"We've already been inoculated for travel to Costa Rica," Levine protested. Bobbie shook her head.

"Oh, I know that," she told him. "But this isn't Costa Rica. The animals here haven't been on this earth for a long, long time. And they've brought some prehistoric diseases along with them."

Marty completed blanched at that fact. He hadn't even considered the possibility that the dinosaurs could be even deadlier than they appeared to be or what those ramifications any escapees might have on the Costa Rican environment.

"Now there's nothing to be really be concerned about as far as catching any prehistoric diseases, but I like to err on the side of caution," Bobbie stated as she walked off to one of the two nearby Jurassic Park tour vehicles. "Now if you'll come with me we'll get this all taken care of."

The group followed Bobbie towards the vehicles and even Levine begrudgingly went with them as he had no desire to waste his entire trip feeling sick to his stomach.

"I'll go with them since the lab is on their way to the clinic," Gerry figured and headed after them. But as he passed Jake and Henry, he shared a warning glance with them that Samantha internally noted before he piled in with the group into the vehicles and they rolled off down the track.

"Impressive," said Samantha watching the vehicles go as she headed with the others to the other car as behind them Jennifer and Kevin used their towing vehicle to pull the DC-3 back into its hanger. "Have you achieved full functionality yet?"

Sam shook his head. "Not entirely. We're still laying out track across the island and there are still some bugs to be worked out, but it works well for short hops."

Samantha nodded her head as she made a note of the work being done out here to conserve fuel and energy resources.

"Speaking of Jurassic Park, heard anything new from the cleanup team?" Samantha asked curious. Sam shrugged as he got into the car.

"It's going as well as can be expected," he remarked as the group piled into the gas powered jeep and Sam started it up and they headed off into the jungle as the sounds of brachiosaurs trumpeting could be heard.

Nublar: Ed Regis and his special ops team retreated from the jungle in a hailfire of bullets before meeting up once more with Jeff Thomas and the group still waiting at the docks having now unloaded all of the equipment.

"I take it things aren't going well?" asked Jeff drily as he looked at the dilophosaur goop that covered Team 1. Ed scowled angrily at the entire situation.

"It's never rains but it pours," he complained bitterly. "Fire up the Humvees and make sure their heavy guns are fully loaded. Those dilo bastards want to play hard to get, I'll mow down the whole jungle to root them out. I won't be run off this island twice."

"Sir, if I may make a suggestion," began Jeff earnestly in an attempt not to lose any workers on a plan he felt hadn't been thought through enough. "It's clear that this area of the island is going to pose more of a problem than the rest. I suggest we move all the equipment further inland past the dilophosaur's territorial range. Then we can clean up the easier sections of the island and then return to this area once that's done."

Ed sighed.

"I'm not a coward," he said softly as if reassuring himself. Jeff nodded his head.

"Yes of course sir. Just look at it this way, the east docks were never intended to be our base of operations. We're just heading to where we need to go to make sure this operation runs smoothly," Jeff said diplomatically. Ed nodded his head.

"Alright get it done," he ordered as he walked off a little bit to calm his nerves. Ed nodded and turned to the group leaders.

"Get the vehicles loaded and rolling and headed for the Visitors Center and the Lodge," he ordered. "I'll have the Venture move out to deeper waters for now and launch the Pave Lows, the Blackhawks, and our lone Apache and they can conduct the routine sweep that we planned for."

"Should we engage any hostiles we run across?" asked the helicopter commander. Jeff shook his head.

"Not until we're set up at our base of operations and can keep track of hostilities encountered and destroyed. Those of us on the ground will take out anything we run across on our way to the lodge but that's just out of pure necessity," Jeff informed the group. "Okay, let's roll out before the hostiles hem us in here."

The team leaders nodded and moved to their groups as the computer programmers were pushed past him into a pair of Jeep Cherokees which was then flanked by a group of heavily armed Humvees and immediately they rolled out down the dirt road into the jungle. Other vehicles of different makes and models rolled past as well as Jeff headed for the SS Venture crewmember that was waiting for instructions to relay to his captain. As Jeff reached him, he had to remain quiet for a few moments as he waited for the noise of the departing helicopters to pass and then when that happened, he waited another moment when the sounds of heavy machinegun fire was heard erupting in the jungle.

"They'd better not be shooting at ghosts," Jeff complained ruefully. Although he was here on Pacific Pharmaceuticals business and what happened to InGen was really no concern of his, he still had no desire to see this operation fail.

"So what's the plan?" asked the crewmember as a trio of M1A1 Abrams Tanks rolled past and into the jungle.

"Get the ship to a safe distance and drop anchor and tell the Anne B. that when she shows up that she's to head for the East Dock. We'll call you with updates," Jeff ordered. The crewmember nodded and then ran up the stairs and Jeff turned around and walked over to one of the few remaining vehicles still on the dock which was equipped with high powered communication devices to act as a sort of mobile command center.

"Are we good?" asked Ed. Jeff nodded his head and the duo got in to the car and the driver started it up and the final vehicles moved off from the dock as the SS Venture headed for safer waters. The vehicle rolled into the jungle and Jeff was silently relieved that no other vehicles were in sight because it meant they hadn't run into any major problems. The vehicle had just passed through a tunnel when the driver made a note of something on the radio and turned to Jeff and Ed.

"Apparently there's a crashed Jurassic Park jeep on the embankment to the left," the worker noted. Ed seemed to stiffen upon hearing that as Jeff craned his head up to look through the window at the jeep that was sitting on the embankment just above them as the vehicle drove by.

"Wonder what it's doing up there?" asked Jeff feigning curiosity as he knew damn well what the jeep signified. Ed just shook his head.

"It's not our concern at the moment," he responded as if leaving no room for debate. "I know it's there from my earlier trip. We'll deal with it later."

"That's not what you were hoping to find with Team 1 were you?" asked Jeff conspiratorially in the hopes that Ed might leak something.

"What did Team 3 have to say about the fences?" asked the Head of PR instead, thereby avoiding the question altogether.

"The fence was online," Jeff responded. Ed seemed to relax upon hearing that as the vehicle drove up the hill and turned around and was now headed above the spot where the jeep had crashed through the guardrail.

"Alright stop the car," Ed ordered abruptly. The driver looked back at the two as if they were crazy but Jeff nodded his head and the vehicle skidded to a halt.

"I'll be right back," Ed stated as he opened the door and slid over the edge and went straight to the jeep. Jeff sighed and hopped out with his rifle at the ready and slid down the embankment after him. As he appeared in the open passenger side door where Ed was sitting and rummaging through the belongings in the vehicle both ended up startled.

"Don't scare me like that," Ed complained as Jeff stared stunned at the decaying corpse of Dennis Nedry. He was just grateful that the gear they were wearing to defend against dilophosaur attacks included a facemask that helped filter the air otherwise he would be vomiting right now as opposed to just having to try and not think about doing so.

"Who was he?" Jeff asked. Ed shrugged as he rooted through the glove compartment.

"An ass," he said unapologetically. "His name was Dennis Nedry and he was the lead programmer on this island."

"What was he doing out here, trying to flee the area after the fences failed?" Jeff said, asking another question to which he already knew the answer. Ed chuckled ruefully at that.

"This fat bastard was the reason the fences failed in the first place," he grumbled as he finished combing through the glove compartment. Evidently not finding what he was looking for, he then turned around and began looking through the rear of the vehicle while trying to avoid touching Nedry's body.

"Damnit," Ed complained after again not finding what he was ordered to do. Jeff gave a visual sweep of the area before turning back to his boss.

"Looking for something specific?" he asked pointedly. Ed sighed as he drummed his fingers on the dashboard in deep thought which looked odd in contrast to Nedry's body.

"Are you familiar with corporate espionage?" asked Ed out of the blue after a few moments of contemplation. Jeff was grateful that the goggles covering his eyes helped cover his startled expression at that question. If Ed Regis had figured out the truth of Jeff's reason for coming to Nublar than that was it for himself, his team, and his real boss.

"Yes," he said, figuring there was no reason it denying it. Ed took one last look at the spot where Nedry's feet rested and then got out of the jeep.

"Having been involved with PR for as long as I can remember, I've certainly been responsible for either covering up or putting a spin on corporate espionage from time to time," Ed said distantly as he looked at the tow cable stretched from the jeep to a tree down below and then turned to look at the passenger side door laying nearby that had been ripped off by clawed hands.

"But this…this is in a league of its own," continued Ed sadly. "People died because of what happened here. Good people who didn't deserve this kind of fate and I could very well have been one of them if I hadn't gotten sick. But if I can't find what I'm looking for then their deaths will not be avenged."

Jeff felt a little bit of inner turmoil at that statement as it seemed clear that Ed did need to find that container of embryos for reasons beyond just corporate secrets. But Jeff knew he needed that container just as badly in order to thwart Biosyn once and for all.

But before Jeff could try and offer some form of response, something caught his eye.

"We have to go now!" he shouted at Ed and grabbed a hold of him and pulled him out of the way as a blob of dilophosaur venom smacked into the side of the jeep.

"They just don't give up!" shouted Ed angrily as more venom globs peppered the area while a pair of dilos appeared from through the trees as more venom flew from behind them from still unseen ones. Jeff looked up the embankment at the gunner manning the heavy machine gun atop their vehicle, but saw that the gunner was now busy fending off an attack of their own from the dinosaurs.

But before Jeff could belt out any orders, a blur caught his attention and he whirled his head around to see a dilophosaur bounding through the ground straight at him before it leapt into the air with all claws and teeth glistening in the light as it dove right at him with a bloodthirsty roar.


	17. Meeting of the Minds

Nublar: Jeff Thomas immediately dropped his rifle and used his freehand to pull out his sidearm and unloaded several rounds into the dilophosaur as it the back of its head exploded. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the momentum of the beast and it slammed into him and pinned him against the jeep before Ed appeared and helped him pull the beast off where it slumped to the ground in a pull of blood.

"Thank you," said Jeff grateful as he checked to make the animal's claws hadn't punctured his protective suit.

"I should be thanking you for…," began Ed when he suddenly became startled as a glob of venom flew past his face and smacked against the side of Nedry's rotting head inside the jeep causing it to lean over at an odd angle. Ed became a little green at that as Jeff popped off a couple more rounds with his gun at the unseen dinosaurs past the trees before he put his gun away and collected his rifle.

"Move it, I'll hold them off," he ordered as he pushed Ed towards the embankment so they could crawl back up to the armored vehicle on the road above them where the gunner was still fending off a separate dilophosaur attack.

"But-," began Ed reluctantly. Jeff pointed up the embankment.

"I'm sure whatever you're looking for isn't of any interest to these dilos. You can get it later," Jeff replied, leaving no room of argument. Ed looked around at the dilophosaurs approaching more boldly from the trees with teeth glistening in the small streams of daylight that made their way through the trees.

"So go, I'll cover you!" ordered Jeff and Ed gave him a thankful look and scrambled up the embankment as Jeff aimed the rifle at a dinosaur and fired, the loud noise of the shotgun reverberating through the tree leafs above.

Sorna: The senior staff was gathered around the conference table as Samantha took Sam's seat at the head of it.

"I know you all have more questions than you can think of right now floating in your heads," Samantha began. "And I wish I could answer all of them, but right now I can't. We're still working out many of the crucial details, but I can give you an overview of where InGen is right now and where we hope to be in the near future."

Questioning glances rose up from the group and Samantha help up her hand to quiet them.

"Let me launch into my presentation first and then you can ask some questions then," Samantha continued before looking at the one individual in the group. "Except for you Jake, you can hold your questions until the end."

Jake gave an exasperated groan as Samantha tried to avoid a brief chuckle that would've seemed out of place with what she was about to say next.

"So as you're no doubt aware, we are currently in the preliminary phase of liquidating Jurassic Park," began Samantha on what had to be a dour note. She pulled out a remote and pressed a button and a slide was projected behind her onto the projector screen, showing a map of Isla Nublar. She then pressed the remote again and a new image of Nublar appeared with some arrows pointing from the east dock towards the interior of the island.

"Per your advice, the team should now be setting up at the lodge with secondary headquarters being the Visitors Center before spreading out into the island," Samantha began before clicking another slide that showed arrows heading out from the lodge into the interior of the park with the caption 'Phase 1: Specimen Retrieval and Liquidation'. Then a new slide showed the arrows were seen heading to the west dock and then yet another slide showed them heading back into the park with the caption 'Phase 2: Equipment Deconstruction'. Then one final slide showed the arrows heading to the docks.

"That's a simplified version of what will happen, but it gets the point across," Samantha noted as she returned her attention to the group.

"So there's no chance of Jurassic Park being restored?" asked Sam a little saddened. Samantha gave him a sympathetic shake of her head.

"Ludlow, Regis, and Ross went over every possibility for how to handle PR if anyone found out what happened during the Jurassic Park Incident of a few weeks ago and there's no possible way to put a positive spin on what happened," she informed them. "I wish there was a way because we poured a lot of money into the Park that we'll never see back now, but there just isn't. I'm sure you've reached the same conclusion, right Nicolette?"

All eyes turned to the blonde haired head of strategic planning on the island as she looked at them a little surprised at the sudden attention.

"I-," she began hesitantly and then her head dropped down defeated. "Yes."

The others were taken a little bit back by her emotional response as normally Nicolette was very stoic. It just all went to show how much of an emotional toll Nublar's collapse was having on them.

"But the good news is that Jurassic Park: San Diego still remains a viable option for showcasing off our product," said Samantha with a pleasant smile on her face as a new slide appeared showing art commissioned a few years back that showed off the complete amphitheatre.

"I'm sure we all remember the uproar we all had back when the San Diego Complex was almost nearing completion and Hammond decided to abandon the idea for Nublar," Samantha reminded them. "I'll admit it; I thought the idea was a bad one at the time. It cost us money and time waiting for Nublar to be constructed and we weren't seeing how the public would react to our product," she continued a little miffed. "But it made some amount of sense. We could better control our product on an island and we could better control access to it while at the same time working out any kinks in the gene sequencing process. But as we've seen over the past few weeks, it also had some drawbacks."

The group shifted uncomfortably at her stark summary of InGen's history of the Dinosaur Revivification Project. But now wasn't the time to wax nostalgic about the past, all that mattered now was the future.

"But because our cash flows were so tight, we were never able to spare the funds to demolish the amphitheatre," Samantha continued as now slides were shown of the actual location that was only partially constructed. "And if our architects are right, we could have the facility full finished and ready to receive visitors in two months after beginning groundwork once Nublar is dismantled."

That number immediately got the staff's attention.

"But we're going to lose the fences here in two and a half!" Lori reminded her. Samantha nodded as she consulted some notes.

"Yes, I know," the Board Member confirmed as she looked up. "But according to the financial statements drawn up by the treasurer and the accountants, it's only by pretty much cutting you guys off from any further supplies and selling the supplies you would've gotten plus our surplus plus the other changes we're planning on making, that we're going to just barely have enough funds to take Nublar apart and finish work on the San Diego Complex."

The group sat silent contemplating that statement.

"It's cutting it close," Henry stated, blowing out a long breath he'd been holding in to try and ease his tension. Samantha chuckled nervously at that.

"You have no idea," she answered as a new slide appeared showing the timeline of Nublar's Deconstruction Operation, the finishing of Jurassic Park: San Diego and its immediate opening, and where that stood in relation to the shutdown of power on Sorna.

There was a single week between the grand-opening of Jurassic Park: San Diego and the complete collapse of Site B.

"Oh shit…," said Daniela softly while feeling a little nauseous. She knew things were going to be bad, she didn't expect it to be that bad. Especially as the entire plan hinged on…

"And that's assuming everything goes off without a hitch and there aren't any unforeseen complications along the way," said Samantha giving voice to Daniela's thoughts. "Once San Diego is operational, we'll then buy as much fuel as we can get our hands on and rush it to you on Sorna before the fences fail. Until then, it's absolutely imperative that nothing bad happens to this island in any way. We lose the facilities here, then the lysine contingency kicks in, the dinosaurs can't breed, and then we lose everything."

Jake and Henry shifted uncomfortably about the mentions of lysine and breeding but they otherwise kept silent.

"And I can't tell you how we relieved we were back at HQ when you finally cured that DX fiasco," Samantha said relieved as she continued consulting her notes. "But enough about the past, let's focus on the future. And the first step after cleaning up the mess on Nublar is combining the staff and shifting the responsibilities of Indigo onto Sorna."

This caused an outcry from the senior staff and Samantha let them vent their frustrations before responding.

"We just don't have the capital to justify keeping both islands open," admitted Samantha as she slid a folder onto the center of the desk that had an analysis of InGen's financial situation as if to emphasize the point.

"If it wasn't for Indigo, we'd never have traced what causing the DX fiasco in the first place," Daniela complained, frustrated. Gerry Harding had felt he'd discovered the root of the problem that was causing the infant dinosaurs to suddenly begin dying off in great numbers, but only be figuring out what was being transferred through Indigo had they managed to conclusively prove what the problem was and fix it.

"I never said it was a perfect situation but it'd only be for a few months until InGen gets back on its feet," Samantha replied. Daniela had to avoid rolling her eyes at that.

"But we won't be able to maintain the integrity of Sorna in the meantime," Daniela continued as that was the main point of her whole argument. "Nedry nearly succeeded in getting embryos off Nublar with the system we already had in place. If you put my workers on Sorna and don't give them the resources we have on Indigo, then there's no telling what the integrity would be of everything coming and going from this island."

Henry finally spoke up upon hearing that. "Did you figure out yet how Nedry got that can past customs?"

Daniela managed to maintain her cool despite how her investigation was turning up a number of troubling concerns about Nedry and that modified can of shaving cream.

"I'm still looking into it," Daniela confessed, which was true, before adding in a lie. "Right now it's looking like the can was so well designed that it didn't even tip off customs."

After concluding her quick explanation, she looked around with slight trepidation to see what the reactions of her fellow staff would be since undoubtedly if anyone could take the blame for not preventing Nedry's actions on Nublar, it would've been her. If the can had been found and confiscated, none of what happened on Nublar would've occurred.

But to her relief, the looks from the others seemed to not be judgmental regarding what had happened. The only one who likely would've said something inappropriate would've been Jake, but he was busy yawning into his hands.

"Daniela, I want you to know that per official approval of the board that you aren't to blame for what happened on Nublar. Only Nedry is responsible and he's dead because of what he tried to do," Samantha said, giving voice to the sentiments of the senior staff. "And the COO championed that motion by the way."

Daniela nodded relieved while Jake and Henry shared a curious glance but again said nothing.

"And while we can't prove they were responsible, we have strong reasons to believe that Biosyn won't try and make another play for the embryos," Samantha informed them as she continued consulting her notes.

"Assuming they're not making a play for them now," Jake grumbled finally, mainly to himself. Samantha shot a sharp glance at him before calming herself.

"According to your own research the coolant in that can is long gone," Samantha replied smoothly as she pulled out the file on Jake and Henry's research into portable embryo cooling systems.

"Embryos are still embryos, even a ruined one can be a huge advantage to any genetics firm," Henry pointed out. "But I'm guessing you're certain that Biosyn is no longer interested in us."

Samantha nodded her head. "They failed once and based on our sources, they have no interest in getting caught should they try again," she told them. "But we'll keep watching them more closely to make sure they stick to that plan."

Jake nudged Henry briefly and drew a couple of letters on the desk with his finger and Henry immediately shook his head refusing to say whatever Jake wanted him to. The two began silently arguing with each other as Samantha chose to ignore them. Instead she pulled out more dossiers and slid them across to rest of the senior staff.

"These are basically everything I've just told you including timelines, charts, and more for the dissolution of Jurassic Park, the combination of the personnel and duties of these two islands, the activation of Jurassic Park: San Diego, and where we hope things will go from there," she told them as she allowed herself to relax in her chair. "It's been a rough few weeks but finally things are getting back on track for InGen. In three months this whole mess with Nedry and Biosyn will be behind us and this company will own the number one tourist destination the world over. I promise."

The others looked at each with a mixture of hope and uneasiness about the future in a place where the present meets the past. Except for Jake and Henry who were still mutely arguing until Henry elbowed Jake in the chest and the two finally stopped.

Nublar: The Humvee shot out from the jungle area where the dilophosaur enclosure was located and raced off down the main road towards the large Jurassic Park main gate.

"We were lucky to get out of there," Jeff stated ruefully as he took off his jacket, protective mask, and gloves which were covered in dilo venom. "I thought you said those dinosaurs should've kicked it by now."

Ed just shook his head at a loss as he stared out the windows.

"When dealing with dinosaurs, you realize there are no guarantees about what they're capable of," the PR man admitted. "But I'll talk to our head scientists and see what they have to say about it."

Jeff nodded his head and yawned briefly as the sun was seen setting in the distance, giving the sky above the trees an eerie orange glow.

"At least we didn't have any big plans for the first day besides setting up at the lodge," Jeff said, relieved. If they'd had big plans for the first day, the dilophosaurs would've easily derailed that and potentially killed the team's morale at the same time. Ed nodded but said nothing before reaching for the satellite phone and flipped it on and dialed a number into it.

"Hello, just checking in," he said into it. "Yeah, things are going as well as we figured, we're on our way to the lodge now. No, it doesn't look like the lysine contingency kicked in. Yeah, I'll talk to Jake and Henry about it. Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll be in touch more tomorrow as we get the Visitors Center back online."

Ed shut off the satellite phone and put it away as the Humvee moved past the Jurassic Park main gate headed for the lodge. Then after passing by the darkened Visitors Center and driving for a few more minutes finally reached the lodge which was heavily lit by floodlights in the nighttime sky. The vehicle waited for a few moments as the guards inside deactivated the electronic locking mechanism on the fence entrance and the vehicle then drove through the opened gate before the doors were closed shut behind it.

"Good to see you," said Tim relieved as he approached the vehicle. "We were almost about to send out a search party."

"Good thing you didn't, it would've been a mess," said Ed a little annoyed at the situation. "Are we set up here?"

Tim nodded his head. "The remote feed I installed earlier to the lodge is still working so we've got the perimeter fence up and running and are getting some images from the security cameras that still work."

"What about the motions sensors?" asked Jeff while looking at the current setup of the vehicles and security personnel outside the lodge.

Tim shook his head. "It's a lost cause until I can get access to the main computers. The readings I'm getting now are…erratic I guess is this best word to describe it."

"You think you can get that fixed in the control room?" asked Ed skeptical. Tim gave a shrug and held out his hands indicating he had no real idea.

"Great," said Ed a little frustrated as he rubbed his head. "Get some sleep, tomorrow will be a bigger day than today was."

Tim nodded and shuffled off into the lodge as Ed joined Jeff who had been reviewing the current setup around the lodge with the third in command.

"I want guards stationed all around the perimeter and especially at the gate for the entire night," Jeff ordered. "I also want perimeter sweeps conducted every fifteen minutes to a half hour and all guards should be wearing night vision binoculars InGen provided us. Inside, I want the guards monitoring the videocameras around this place and make sure the automatic sliding doors are in the off position."

Jeff then walked over to the electrified fence and picked up a stick lying on the ground.

"I don't want you shooting at shadows that you might see out there, but if you can confirm a dinosaur is out there in the trees, then take your shot," Jeff swore darkly as he held up the stick and then threw it against the fence where it exploded into flames and then dropped down onto the ground where smoke poured off of it.

"Remember that the fence and all 10,000 volts flowing through it is not our first defense…it's our last," Jeff told them. "We let just one of those bastards loose in here and it'll be a bloodbath. I won't let that happen and neither should any of you."

Jeff tipped his head at them, said some words of encouragement to the third in command, and then headed off towards the lobby of the lodge as Ed followed him.

"Do you think we can defend this place?" the PR man asked concerned as the two walked through the sliding doors which were then immediately switched off and closed shut to the outside and locked by the inside guards. Jeff looked at his boss and gave him an uncertain smirk as he lightly shrugged.

"I don't know because this place wasn't really designed to be defended, it was to give off a great view of the island," he pointed out. "Those trees all around the fence aren't working in our favor both from a visibility standpoint as well as possibly providing a way into this compound by anyone wanting to use them to go over the fence. Basically what I'm saying is that it's all up to the dinosaurs now to make the first move."

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Ed looked around terrified as the whole building began shaking as a rhythmic thumping was heard outside.

"Just relax, that's the helicopters returning from their sweep," Jeff said amused at Ed's reaction as the four helicopter landed around the building and powered down. Ed breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to calm his nerves.

"Sorry, but when you hear a thumping like that your mind automatically thinks T-Rex," Ed apologized sheepishly. "I'll just go get some sleep before I get really antsy. Good night, Jeff."

Jeff nodded and clapped him on the back as Ed headed for the elevator before turning to the helicopter crews coming in through the front door.

"Anything?" he asked of the group leader. The leader shook their head.

"Some hostiles here and there but that is really about it," the leader figured before jerking his head towards the door. "Do you want us out there doing sweeps with the vehicles during the rest of the night?"

Jeff shook his head. "No, but just be aware that you might have to launch at a moment's notice."

The crews nodded and headed for the elevator and got into it with Ed Regis. As the door shut behind them, Jeff finally let the pent up tension in his body release as he sighed deeply to himself. Today had been a stressful day all around with having to juggle InGen's interests with Pacific Pharmaceuticals hidden interests all while avoiding some of the deadliest creatures at every turn. But he'd gotten through the first day and hopefully the rest would be easier until it came to the team somehow getting their hands on the embryo canister near Nedry's jeep.

"Excuse me, mister, would you like something to drink?" asked a familiar voice cutting into his thoughts. Jeff looked up to see Cassie holding out a steaming paper cup of coffee to him.

"Thanks," he said grateful as he took the cup and then looked at Cassie with a mixture of false confusion. "And you would be?"

"Cassandra, I'm one of the technicians," Cassie told him. "And you don't need to introduce yourself; we were all told who the leaders of this expedition are."

Jeff nodded lightly as he drank from his cup. "Why aren't you asleep like everyone else?"

Cassie gave a brief sign of her usual self by giving a small smirk at his concern. "No one's up there sleeping, they're all too scared about what's out there. I'm just one of the few who refuses to think that a locked door is going to save me and if something's coming, I'd rather know about it ahead of time."

Jeff nodded his head before trying to figure out what Cassie's additional angle was in all of this. She could've easily been preparing for tomorrow and getting into the InGen computers without being noticed, but instead she was down here risking someone noticing them and possibly making some connection between the two.

"Oops, silly me," said Cassie once again cutting into his thoughts as she dropped her bagel she'd been carrying onto the floor. After bending down to pick it up, he saw her gaze fall briefly on the remote terminal Tim had set up to the Visitor Center computer but was currently unmanned before straightening back up and looking over her bagel to see how dirty it was. She then gave a glance Jeff's way as she took a thoughtful bite out of her food. Jeff gave her a questioning look to see if she was sure she wouldn't get caught with whatever it was she was planning on doing. Cassie gave him a nearly imperceptible nod while smirking just slightly.

"You're a disgusting person eating that," Jeff commented of her eating the bagel that had been on the floor.

"I loves me my bagels," Cassie said unapologetically and completely sincere. Jeff sighed before he began looking around the room and his eyes fell on the computer terminal.

"You said you're a technician right?" he asked of Cassandra. The woman nodded her head.

"If I put you on that terminal do you think you could see about working with the motion trackers and the security cameras to get more online?" Jeff asked next. Cassie took sip of her drink and wiped her mouth with her arm and nodded her head.

"I don't know the system very well, but I'm willing to try," she confirmed.

"Then get to it," said Jeff bluntly. "If you're not sure what you're doing then walk away. I don't need those fences failing on us because you were poking around where you shouldn't have been."

"Aye, aye, dude!" said Cassie giving him a mock salute as she bolted for the terminal. Jeff watched her go before groaning briefly at her desire to mess with any computer system she could get her hands on before he went off to talk with the team leaders about their plans for the morning.

"Are we all here?" asked Jeff looking around. The others looked around at each other.

"I think we're just missing Howard King and Chip Hanford," said one of them. The doors were heard opening behind them and the group turned to see a drenched man walk in through the doors.

"Sorry," said Howard King apologetically as he held up a soaked cigarette. "I thought I could get one in before the meeting started."

"But now you're all washed up, right?" asked one of them. The group laughed as Chip Hanford, one of Jeff's Pacific Pharmaceuticals team, appeared from out of nowhere. Jeff looked at him and Chip silently made a quick motion of holding an imaginary cigarette and then pointed out his thumb and pinky finger in the form of an imaginary phone and then pointed at Howard, all in one swift motion that escaped everyone's notice as it just looked like he was getting the blood flowing in his hand.

What it meant to Jeff was clear. Howard King wasn't out there trying to have a smoke, he was secretly contacting someone. The team had always felt Biosyn or some other genetics firm might infiltrate someone into the demolition of Nublar. Now they had discovered one of them, it was now a matter of finding out who else might be around who could put a wrench in their plans.

But looking at the faces before him, the Pacific Pharmaceuticals member knew he couldn't focus on that right now. Their safety was at stake, what happened with the can of embryos could wait until later.

"Alright let's get down to business," Jeff began and began explaining what was to come in the morning.

Sorna: "And that's basically the tour of the Operations Building," concluded Lori Ruso to Daniela and Samantha. "Course, I'm sure when we give that same speech again to the investigation team, they'll hopefully be more awed."

Samantha chuckled lightly at that as she looked at Jake, Henry, Sam, and Nicole who had walked with her and Daniela on the tour.

"You've all done an excellent job," the Board Member told them as she looked out at the darkened outside and then back at the group. "I'm sorry I kept you all up so late, I think we all need to get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"Right, another day another disaster," Jake complained before chuckling briefly. "C'mon, Henry, let's go see if there's any food left in the cafeteria."

"Right," said the fellow scientist exhausted. "Then I need some shuteye because who knows what I'll end up cooking in the labs tomorrow without enough sleep."

"And I don't need another headache so you'd both better get that sleep," Lori warned as the trio headed off out of the building towards the moat below. Nicole just gave a tip of her head and walked off after the departing trio.

"Guess I'd better go too and find my room assignment," said Daniela with drooping eyelids. She was about to walk off when Samantha placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from leaving.

"As much as I'd like for you to get that sleep, we still have one more important matter to discuss tonight," Samantha stated solemnly. Sam looked at her confused as Samantha pulled out a document from her travel bag and showed it to him. The document was sealed in protective plastic and on the outer folder there was only one word and three letters: _Project: E.L.E_.

"You seriously want to talk about this now?" said Sam incredulously.

"Yes," said Samantha curtly as she nodded her head. "If not now, when?"

Sam groaned in disgust. "I think Daniela's got enough to think about without having to worry about that right now."

"Worry about what?" demanded Daniela bewildered as she looked at the letters of the project but had no idea what they meant. The trio by now had moved back into the conference room and each took a seat.

"She is going to basically be the second person in charge of this island after the merger and so that makes it her business to know now," said Samantha icily as she tossed the document onto the table and set down her bag. Sam shook his head in shame at that.

"Those fences aren't going to fail anytime soon," Sam pointed out of the obvious. "We've still got at least seventy-five days or so left before that happens."

"Nevertheless, the board insists she be informed of the basics of the project today," said Samantha not backing down. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow, a storm could level this island to the ground, or an earthquake, or a volcano, or who knows what, which is why she must know what to do if things go south."

"If things go south, then ELE won't mean much then will it? Especially not to you board members sitting safe in San Diego," said Sam condescendingly. Samantha shot him a glance at that.

"Careful with that tone," she warned. "I know it's late and you're tired and not thinking clearly right now, but I don't need to hear the voice of Jake Whitacre when he's not around."

Sam had to avoid rolling his eyes but then he looked out at the quiet Workers Village through the glass paneled doors.

"Well speaking of, shouldn't he and Henry be here for this?" asked the head of Sorna. "I mean this is their plan after all."

Samantha seemed to pause at that as she considered her next words carefully. "The Board feels it would be in the company's best interest if they had less involvement in this project than they already do."

Sam was completely thrown for a loop by that remark.

"H-how-what?" he shouted, which in the near emptiness of the room meant that it echoed quite a bit. That Daniela didn't say anything to his outburst, or indeed say much in regards to their entire conversation, was lost on Sam and Samantha, they were so involved in their argument.

"Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu are loose cannons," Samantha began simply. "More so Jake than Henry, but his boldness causes Henry to go along with him in his actions. They have no regard for authority when it comes to the Executives and they have openly shown defiance to our COO Peter Ludlow who for all intents and purposes is trying to see this company through its darkest hour now that Mr. Hammond has withdrawn himself from the day to day operations. If those two knew that we hadn't forgotten about that little pet project of theirs and were thinking about it very carefully, they might feel the desire to authorize it at a very inopportune moment as far as InGen is concerned. We cannot allow that to happen. They are good scientists, but we cannot risk their emotions getting the better of them as far as this company's future goes."

Sam leaned forward towards her. "Then why don't you dig up Doctor Graves, he's the only one those two will listen to when it comes to board decisions," the man said, stating the obvious to Samantha about the only lead scientist who was higher ranked than Whitacre and Wu. "I'm surprised you haven't done so already. Where the hell is he anyway?"

Samantha rubbed the bridge of her forehead as she tried to relieve some tension she'd built up over the course of this conversation. "It's classified," she finally answered. Sam stared blankly at her response before reality hit him and he chuckled malevolently at that.

"You have no idea where he is, do you?" he deduced slightly amused. "Oh, that's just great. No wonder you're scared. If Jake and Henry find out then you're right, they might do something drastic when the time comes."

"So now do you see why they can't be here for this?" asked Samantha mentally exhausted and hoping they were at the end of this conversation. Sam nodded his head to her relief but then added one final suggestion.

"I think you should keep those two on the level through all of this. If they find out you're keeping things from them, they won't like it," Sam warned. "But okay, let's get this briefing underway. Daniela, I'm sure you have a lot of questions after what Samantha and I just talked about so…"

Sam's word abruptly died in his throat as he looked across the table to Daniela St. Ives and finally discovered why she had been so silent during the conversation…her head was on the table and she was blissfully snoozing away. Sam leaned back in his chair at that and then looked over at Samantha who had just finished rolling her eyes and then held her hand up to her mouth to try and stifle a laugh.

"Well, maybe _some_ things can wait until tomorrow for clearer heads," the Board Member finally conceded lightly as she collected the ELE report and put it back in her bag. "If you don't mind collecting her, let's all get some shuteye."

Sam nodded and walked over to Daniela's slumped over form and knelt down so he could slump her over his shoulder with a minimal amount of effort and then he stood up and carried her from the room with Samantha trailing behind.

"Do you think it will work?" asked Samantha curious as they were crossing the bridge over the moat. Sam looked at her through tired eyes.

"Think what will work?" he asked as the two moved down the main road in the village.

"ELE," said Samantha as she pulled her vest closer to her body to try and keep warm in the cold nighttime air. Sam looked ahead at the perimeter fence with the entrance to the outside jungle locked shut and then he looked higher up at the blinking blue and red lights on the fencepost.

"I hope we never have to find out," Sam told her, expressing the sentiments of everyone on the island. "But yes, I hope that if we have to use it, that it does work. It'd better after all the work Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves put into it."

Samantha nodded as she paused for a moment and looked at the electrified fence ahead of them before rejoining Sam who was entering into the lodge. The head of Sorna deftly walked behind the desk with the still snoozing Daniela over his shoulder as he picked up a pair of small pieces of paper that gave her room assignment that the receptionist had left behind. Their InGen security keys would let them into their room. As Sam was collecting Daniela's room assignment, Samantha hit the button for the elevator and by the time Sam made his way over to her, they both boarded it and headed up.

"I take it this place isn't as well defended as the lodge on Nublar?" asked Samantha curious.

"It is and it isn't," Sam told her as the elevator stopped and they got off. "But that's pretty much due to location in comparison to the fences and that this building is part of a larger village. If you need more specific details I can always give you the blueprints for this place."

"No, that's okay," said Samantha dismissively as they reached Daniela's room and Samantha took her ID card and swiped it across the sensor and the door opened since being on the board gave her a universal key that would open any door. She quietly opened it and Sam walked in and laid Daniela on the bed before heading back out and then closed the door behind him.

"I swear that girl can sleep through anything," Samantha quipped, amazed and then she yawned heavily into her hand. "Well, that's it for me. I'll see you, the others, and the tour group bright and early."

Sam nodded his head and gave a light wave and headed off for the elevator. Samantha thought about saying something more to him but thought better of it and closed her mouth. It could wait until later as the elevators doors closed in front of the head of Sorna.

San Diego, California: Sarah Harding was wolfing down a late night meal as she spoke with a colleague on a payphone.

"Sounds like a great trip you guys have planned out, Pete," said Sarah into the phone as she picked out some onions and tossed them into a nearby garbage can. "Say hi to Richard and Amy for me. Oh and stay saf-hello? Hello?"

The phone line had abruptly turned into static after being softly muted for sometime.

"Weird," she said confused before placing the receiver back on its base.

"Problems with the phone?" asked the person standing next to her who had just retrieved a paper from the vending machine near the phones.

"Yeah," Sarah confirmed as she crammed part of her sandwich into her mouth. The man looked at the business section of the paper and handed it to her.

"Looks like TraviCom is having problems with one of their satellites. Something to do with a lost expedition in the Congo," he mentioned as Sarah took the paper and looked at it as the man pointed at the TraviCom logo emblazoned on the phone base.

"It doesn't say anything about the Congo, just that the satellite is having issues," said Sarah confused. The man nodded his head.

"I know. But I make it my business to know what's really going on behind the scenes when it comes to people I consider my competitors," the man told her and then finally turned to face her. "Which is why I'm here talking to you Ms. Harding."

Sarah nearly choked on her sandwich and forced herself to gulp it down as the man chuckled at her response.

"I'm nobody's competitor," she remarked as she wiped her mouth of the mustard on her lips before giving the man a suspicious glare.

"No," the man admitted lightly. "But you are a woman with a lot of questions. Particularly about a weekend excursion a man named Ian Malcolm went on about a month ago."

If the earlier revelation of her name came as a mild surprise, this one blew it out of the water.

"Do you work for InGen?" she demanded a little irate at what had happened to her on and off again boyfriend. The man slowly shook his head.

"No, but I'm a man just as interested in what happened as you are," he told her. "That's why I have a proposal for you. From the morphine and everything else he is hopped up on, I'm sure he's probably rambling incoherently about a number of different things. I'd like a transcript of what he's mumbling about…along with some questions I'd like you to ask him for me."

Sarah was used to thinking on her feet having spent so much time among deadly predators in the field. "And what's in it for me?"

"You give me information, I give you information on InGen," the man told her as he slid the piece of paper in front of her.

"And how do I know you know anything?" she asked suspicious of the whole conversation. The man nodded his head approvingly of her statement.

"Good that you're not taking me at my word," he said. "First piece of information is free: amber."

Sarah's eyebrows scrunched at that. "That's no use to me. There're probably a million people with that name."

"And I wasn't talking about a person," the man responded promptly and then turned and walked off. "My card's on that sheet of paper if you decide to help me."

"I didn't get your name," Sarah responded. The man paused briefly.

"Call me, John," he told her and kept walking.

"And why do you care, John?" Sarah asked next needing to know. "What's your interest in all of this?"

"That's a question you won't get an answer for. Goodnight Ms. Harding, I hope you decide to help me out on this because there's more at stake than you realize," John requested and then was gone from sight. Because the whole conversation hadn't last more than a couple of minutes in the middle of the night, Sarah was almost convinced it hadn't happened. And yet she held a piece of paper in her hand with a number of detailed questions on it about people whose names she didn't recognize.

"_Arnold, Nedry, Muldoon, Graves, who are these people and why do they sound so familiar?_" Sarah wondered to herself. While there were several reasons why she shouldn't trust this mysterious man at all, there was one more important factor that decided what her decision would be.

Her father's life may be in danger if she didn't learn everything about InGen that she could. And she would ensure his safety by any means necessary no matter the consequences.


	18. Mysteries Abound

A/N: I'm noticing as I write this that for a Jurassic Park story, the dinosaurs haven't really featured very heavily in it so far. That will change in time.

Dawn: The sun rose on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna as the personnel on both islands set forth. For most of the personnel on Sorna, it was business as usual. But for all those on Nublar, it was considerably less so.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

The taskforce helicopters raced over the damaged Visitors Center and began sweeping the area looking for signs of life as various vehicles raced past the building. A group of them halted in front of the building and heavily armed mercenaries raced up the stairs and into the lobby and fanned out around the building looking for any hostile lifeforms.

"Looks clear so far," said Jeff into his radio as he heard back from the teams that were currently sweeping the building. "You can come in now Ed."

"Right," said the PR man as the front doors opened and the DRT Team poured in with their weapons at the ready as Ed Regis walked between them.

"God, this place is worse than I thought," commented Ed looking at the destroyed dinosaur skeletons, the blown in wall that the T-Rex had made to enter into the building, and the debris everywhere else. He was still looking around when a crinkling and crackling noise caught his attention and he looked down to see the 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth' Banner underneath his feet, looking in as much disarray as the rest of the place. He tried to brush off a piece of dirt only to succeed in partially tearing the banner so he immediately stopped and tried not to look both sheepish and depressed.

"This building is going to be harder to defend than I initially figured," Jeff noted, looking at the destroyed wall.

"Do you think we brought anything with us that could fix that?" asked Ed hopeful. Jeff sized up the hole and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"We don't because we're here to take this island apart, not put it back together," the Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker told him. "But since InGen was still trying to build this place, maybe there's some supplies lying around we could use. Team Nine?"

Chip Hanford and his team walked up to them.

"Go and walk the perimeter of this compound and see if you can't locate where they were keeping the building supplies. After you do or don't find anything we can use then take one of the vehicles and go on to the maintenance shed where the power generator is located and secure that area," Jeff ordered. Chip nodded his head and motioned with his hand and his team left through the open area where the far wall was. Jeff then headed further into the building with Ed as from the nearby stairwell the technology team was herded up the stairs from the underground garage.

"I hope the Control Room is in better shape than this place is," Jeff muttered to himself under his breath as the team left the lobby.

Sorna: The senior staff of Sorna was enjoying their morning breakfast as they awaited the arrival of the inspection team.

"So I think I've got a good tour planned out for the gene sequencing facilities that won't reveal anything about how the process really works," Lori said as she put cream cheese on her bagel. "Course, I've heard a lot about Doc Thorne and he might put all the pieces together on his own."

"If he does, that's fine," Samantha told her. "He's clean as far as Biosyn or other rival genetics companies are concerned. We funnel a good amount of money into his company; he won't betray us."

The door was heard opening and everyone turned their heads to see Sheila enter and make a beeline for the donuts as she crammed one in her mouth and then grabbed several more along with some muffins and headed back for the door.

"How's it going over there?" asked Sam in reference to Nublar. Sheila turned to face them.

"Gumfing af vell vas posble," she said through her stuffed mouth and then was gone back to the Control Room. Samantha consulted her watch and then pulled out her timeline of the Nublar Operation and glanced through it.

"The team on Nublar should be entering the Control Room soon, I'd better get down there and see how Ed and them are doing," Samantha stated. "If the inspection team gets here, just delay them for a little while until I get back."

"Okay," said Jake noncommittally as Samantha collected her things and left the room. As soon as she was gone, Jake turned to Sam curious.

"What held you up last night after Lori's tour ended?" the scientist asked, curious. Even though Sam had hoped Jake wouldn't have noticed his absence at the dining area the previous night, he was still a little startled by the abrupt question. So he carefully finished drinking his coffee and then wiped his hands on his napkin.

"Just logistics," he answered simply and then forced a smile onto his face. "Unfortunately, Daniela decided to conk out on us before we got the chance to really discuss anything."

He then shifted towards the head of Indigo who had a sheepish look on her face.

"I was tired and you and Samantha were rambling on about things I didn't understand so of course I was going to tune you out as much as I could," she said bemused as Sam turned back to Henry.

"Anyway, I had the honor of carrying her to her room in the lodge and then I was just too tired to eat anything and went straight to sleep," Sam concluded. "Does that answer your question?"

He could tell from Jake's expression that it hadn't, but there was no way the scientist could find out without pushing the issue and so he let it go.

"I guess that would explain the chainsaw I heard coming from the lodge," he said instead. Daniela choked on her drink upon hearing that.

"Hey!" she said with realization and then picked up an apple and drilled Jake in the chest with it.

"The pain," Jake complained mockingly as he purposefully fell out his chair to the ground. "Is there a doctor in the house?"

"Yes, but she won't help you for being stupid," said Bobbie as she walked into the room and grabbed a cup of coffee and sighed wishing she a copy of a newspaper to go with it.

"How'd it go with your patients yesterday?" asked Lori. Bobbie shrugged.

"Same as with all patients, reluctant to take their shots, but having no choice," she said malevolently. "They'll be sore for a little while so they probably won't be in early this morning."

The others nodded, grateful.

"Although I wouldn't be surprised if Levine decides to wander off early into the jungle without permission," Henry figured. Bobbie nodded her head.

"I could see him wanting to but not being able to," the Doctor mused and then seeing the strange looks, clarified. "Well considering where on his body he got his shot…"

"Oh," the rest said understanding…and then fully understanding. "Oh…"

Appetites abruptly dropped at that as Bobbie chuckled. "More for me then," she stated and put some pancakes on her plate. "Man, I can't tell you how much I missed Alejandro's cooking when he was away."

Jake and Henry turned to each other and Henry mouthed a word and Jake nodded his head and then both abruptly tossed their food in the trash and walked off as Lori quickly shoveled in some more food without thinking about Bobbie's comment and chased after them.

"Where are you two going?" she asked concerned that they were taking off when the investigation team was about to arrive.

"We've got some loose ends we need to tie up," said Henry mysteriously. "Don't worry, we'll be around when the tour gets to where we'll need to make appearances."

Lori paused silently at that as she trailed behind them.

"Loose ends with what?" she asked timidly, not sure if she wanted to know. Jake turned to her a wry grin on his face.

"Logistics," he said, echoing what Sam had said earlier. That caused Lori to completely stop in her tracks as Jake and Henry continued walking.

"If you see Carly, tell her to call us," Henry shouted back at her and the two vanished into the parking garage. A moment later a car ripped out and headed off into the jungle. But before Lori could decide if she was going after them, a voice called out to her.

"Are you our tour guide?" the voice asked. Lori looked to her left and saw Richard Levine, Doc Thorne, Marty Gutierrez, Kelly, and Arby standing outside the lodge and having just emerged from the building. Lori looked at them with a measure of panic on her face as she didn't want to be left alone with this group, not with the future of InGen possibly riding on their report back to the Board and the investors.

"Yes," began Lori tentatively as a plan began forming in her mind. "But I had a talk with Doctor Carter and she doesn't think you should be moving so much this morning after having your shots. Go back and relax and we'll come get you later."

"What'll happen if we move too much?" asked Levine suspicious that he was being lied to. Lori blinked a couple of times at that as she tried to muster up a convincing excuse. And then her thoughts turned to anger at Jake leaving her behind to deal with this and the answer became clear.

"Well you've essentially been pumped full of antibodies designed to counteract a dinosaur disease. If you don't stop moving and allow the antibody to properly settle in your system, you run the risk of possibly mutating your DNA into that of a dinosaur's," Lori told them. "It's rare, but you shouldn't take unnecessary risks."

Levine visibly blanched at that as he looked at his hands and rubbed his arms as if checking for leathery skin or feathers.

"I think we can afford to wait and not take any chances," said Levine as he herded the team back into the lodge. His two young assistants verbally protested but were ushered back inside.

"It's just as well, I still have to prepare my long list of questions for everyone on this island," grumbled Gutierrez as he shivered in the early morning cold. Thorne for his part gave a skeptical look at Lori before a grin broke out on his face and he laughed before heading back in as well. The female InGen worker breathed a collective sigh of relief at their retreat as she looked at the entrance and exit to the jungle through the electrified fence where Jake and Henry had just departed.

Lori desperately wished that Jake and Henry would've just come clean about whatever they were up to, but she had to admit that their absence probably saved InGen's personnel a few hours of grief. And in a way Jake was to thank for that as the explanation she'd given the group was the same off the wall excuse Jake had given Bobbie many years ago when he refused to take the vaccine. Sure, Bobbie subsequently had him strapped to the operating table and injected him anyway, but at least his excuse hadn't gone to waste.

With a quick spin on her heels, Lori immediately made a beeline back for the Operations Building. She still had a lot of work to do before the tour started…and with a little luck she'd still be able to keep tabs on whatever Jake and Henry were up to. It was going to be a busy day.

Nublar: "If it's not one thing it's the next," commented Jeff ruefully as he looked at the blown in glass window with pieces of it scattered all around the control room.

"Kind of makes the security door obsolete, doesn't it?" Ed agreed lightly. "From what I remember from the deposition the survivors of this island gave, a velociraptor came crashing through there."

"Then it must have had a thick hide because I don't see any blood anywhere," said Lorne Tenners looking around. "But I guess sanitizing the place couldn't hurt after we clean up the glass."

"I'll have the custodial staff we brought us with us get started cleaning this mess up but in the meantime the programmers can get started on the area away from the glass and that broken ceiling tile over there," Ed figured before turning to Tim. "Have at it."

"Ready to rock," Tim agreed with a nod of his head as he turned to the programmers. "You all have your assignments by now, go to it. I'll be at the main terminal if you need me."

The team of programmers scattered about to the various terminals as Cassie took her place at Ray Arnold's former terminal and turned it on. She then gave a quick glance at Tim to make sure he was occupied at Dennis Nedry's terminal and then she took out her portable terminal from her bag and fired it up as well while trying to keep it hidden from those near her. She then exchanged a glance with Jeff who didn't respond but nudged Ed.

"I think we can set up a team of guards here and see how they're doing down in the labs," Jeff suggested. Ed nodded and Jeff turned to Lorne.

"Set up your men around the room and out in the theater. I'll be in the conference room where I'll set up the uplink with the Board," he stated and Lorne nodded his head and moved his team out. Jeff then turned to his team and motioned to the door and his team moved towards the exit. But as he walked behind Dennis Nedry's terminal, he sneezed and his foot jerked out and pulled the plug on the monitor causing it to shut off.

"Oops," said Jeff apologetically to Tim as he bent over. "Let me fix that for you."

"Thanks," said Tim distractedly as he got his large ringed binders in order that would help him navigate the island's systems more effectively. Jeff plugged the monitor cable back in but then quickly produced a small device from his sleeve and plugged it into one of the ports on the rear of the terminals underneath the desk. He then stood back up and didn't even look back at Cassie as he exited the room with Ed Regis. From her desk, Cassie waited to see if Tim had noticed but apparently he hadn't. She waited for him to properly boot up his terminals and then tapped a few commands on her computer and it began performing a trace for files locating in the mainframe with the results being wirelessly transmitted to her.

Wireless computer technology for computers was still in its infancy in 1993 but John Brown had immediately seized on the idea for covert operations involving corporate espionage. It gave Cassie the advantage of no one suspecting such a thing might be happening by leaving virtually no trace but on the downside, wireless transmissions were extremely slow and so it would take time to get the information she needed from the mainframe.

But time was something she plenty of at the moment as she began working on what she had been assigned to do. But as she set about doing what she loved most, programming, she failed to notice a pair of eyes occasionally darting her way scrutinizing her. From his seat at a nearby computer, a man named Ed James began scribbling down notes from what he observed the female programmer doing.

San Diego: Peter Ludlow and the rest of the InGen Board sans Samantha were sitting at their main conference table waiting for the uplink to commence with Nublar and Sorna. After a few moments, one of the computer monitors fired up and the traveling board member appeared on it.

"Is the connection good?" asked Samantha from her end as her image seemed to fuzz a little bit but was otherwise clear.

"We read you," Ludlow acknowledged. "How are things at Site B?"

"As good as can be expected given the circumstances of Jurassic Park's demise on the company," Samantha replied. "I don't see any problems with the inspection."

"Good," said Ludlow pleased. "What about our two favorite scientists?"

Samantha gave a brief smile at that. "They're playing nice for now."

Ludlow nodded his head. "See that they stay that way. The last thing we need is their baseless accusations making the inspection team suspicious."

Samantha looked at him confused. "Baseless accusations about what?"

Ludlow seemed to shift a little bit uncomfortably at that question but he was interrupted before he could continue.

"Hello, am I patched in properly?" asked Ed Regis as his image appeared on the other monitor.

"Yes, Ed, we read you," said Ludlow grateful to be talking about something else that was much more important to InGen's future. "How are things on Nublar?"

"Going well, but it looks like the Lysine Contingency hasn't been working up to spec," Regis admitted. "As for where we are right now…"

Ludlow focused so intently on Regis's image and report that he didn't notice Samantha continue to stare at him intently for several moments before scribbling down a note on her notepad and then silently returning her attention to Ed Regis and his report.

Sorna, later in the day: "And so that pretty much concludes our tour of the Operations Building," Lori concluded to the inspection team as they reached the front doors. "Did anyone have any questions?"

"So if you don't clone dinosaurs here, why the incubators?" asked Thorne looking through a side door at a row of incubators that seemingly weren't in use.

"It's because we used those in the early days of the project while the larger production facilities were being built. Even today you'll see the occasional egg in there being studied by scientist who decided to take their work home with them, so to speak," Lori answered. "You actually just missed the heaviest usage in the past few years when we finished solving a problem called DX. We used the facilities here to create a batch of specimens to use as a control group against the specimens being created in the facilities to see if something was affecting the production process. It turned out the production facilities weren't the problem, but it was still useful to have this location be operational."

Thorne nodded his head as he jotted down some notes in his notebook about what he saw as the rest of the group mainly looked bored.

"So, how about some lunch?" Lori asked clapping her hands together. The group was hungry and each nodded their heads except for Arby.

"Can I go look in on the control room for a few minutes first?" he asked hopeful. Lori shrugged.

"I don't see why not if Sheila says it is okay," she decided. Arby gave her an appreciative grin and was headed for the stairs as Kelly chased after him not wanting to be left alone with the grownups.

'Were there any other questions before we go to the commissary?" asked Lori curious.

"Yeah, when do we get to see the production facilities and the hatcheries?" Levine demanded grumpily. That was where he wanted to be, not here being told things he didn't care a damn about.

"Oh that won't be until much later this week if not until some point next week at best," Lori mentioned cheerfully. Levine's jaw dropped upon hearing that.

"Why so long?" he demanded irate. Lori just gave him a mild smirk.

"It's because we have so much to cover until then," she responded matter of factly. "You haven't seen the compound yet for your inspection tour, the other buildings out there in the field, et cetera. Don't worry there'll be plenty of time to see the production facilities later."

Levine scowled at her. "I want to speak to Peter Ludlow, now!"

Lori tipped her head at him in acknowledgment of his request, but then frowned at his request.

"Unfortunately, our communications station is largely tied up with the Nublar operation," she explained with false sympathy. "But once that's done I'm sure we'd be happy to contact Peter Ludlow for you."

Levine growled angrily and then waved a hand at her and stalked off as Gutierrez followed after him. Thorne watched them go before turning to Lori.

"You're good. I could use back at my plant to handle him if you ever think about changing professions," he offered. Lori shook her head lightly.

"I'm here for the long haul," she explained truthfully. "You'd better go take a break though, the technology you saw in this building is nothing compared to the electrified fences, motion sensors, and everything else we've got out there."

Levine nodded his head in agreement and yawned briefly before heading off to the commissary before saying one last thought. "Oh, and don't let Richard get to you. He's used to getting his way and here he's completely out of his league with all of this. Once he's found his footing, he'll calm down."

"I'll just have to trust you on that," Lori said with a mild smirk. Thorne nodded his head and then gave a friend wave goodbye and headed for the dining area. As he left, Lori felt the energy suddenly drain out of her and she leaned against the wall exhausted. The tour was the opening salvo of InGen's attempt to convince the company's investors that nothing could go wrong on Site B like it had on Jurassic Park. To that end she'd been prepping night and day for the past week to make sure the introduction went off without a hitch and now that it had, she found it hard to stand.

"I think that went well," said Samantha as she emerged from the stairwell. "Good work, Lori."

"Thanks, boss," said the Head of Operations on Sorna as she yawned briefly into her hand. "Are you going to get something to eat, too?"

Samantha shook her head. "Actually, I'm looking for Jake and Henry have you seen them?"

Lori looked at her with a mixture of nervousness and anxiety. "They had something they said they needed to do. But they did say they would be back for the part of the tour that concerns them."

"Huh?" asked Samantha not having been entirely paying attention before she waved off Lori's concerns. "Oh, I'm not looking for them to bust their chops for not being here. In fact I think the less they have to do with this tour, the better. No, I needed to ask them something, but if they're not here than it can wait. Anyway, like I said good job on the tour."

Samantha then wandered off so lost in her thoughts she failed to register Roberta Carter pass by saying hello.

"What's with her?" Bobbie asked concerned. Lori shrugged.

"She's just looking for our two resident troublemakers," she explained. Bobbie nodded her head with a slight grin on her face.

"That would explain her lack of concentration," the Doctor agreed and then held up a cup of coffee. "Need a little pick me up?"

Lori graciously accepted the cup. "Ah, just what the Doctor ordered."

Bobbie groaned and held her head in shame. "I think Jake's rubbed off on you more than your realize."

"You may be right," Lori conceded. "So what's up, what brings you down from the clinic?"

Bobbie paused for a moment as she considered her next words carefully.

"Sometime soon I'll need to ask you something in complete confidentiality, is that okay?" she asked conspiratorially. Lori's eyebrows went up at that statement.

"Like what?" she asked concerned. Bobbie looked up suddenly as if snapped out of a reverie.

"Oh, it's nothing to be worried about," the Doctor said, trying to be disarming. "It's just a question I think only you can answer."

"Oh, ummm, okay," said Lori still confused as she took a sip of her coffee. "I'll be happy to answer your question if I can."

"That's all I'm asking," said Bobbie simply as she enjoyed her own cup of coffee. Lori chuckled for a moment.

"Kind of funny you coming to me asking for confidentiality," she said bemused. "Normally it's supposed to be the other way around."

Bobbie gave her a curious look at that. "You mean I didn't tell you that you were pregnant? I told everybody else."

Lori gagged on her coffee as Bobbie laughed heavily as Sam passed by having heard the tail end of their conversation.

"Congrats Lori, name your kid after me," he said jokingly and continued on his way. Lori meanwhile wiped her mouth and glared at Bobbie who laughed even harder.

"I'll get you for that," she swore.

"I'm sure you will," Bobbie agreed lightly as the two headed for the dining hall. "I'm sure you will."

Embryonics Administration: The dinosaur corpses were spread out across a number of gurneys in a section off area of the building away from prying eyes. Clustered around the corpses were Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, Abby Nakajima, Derek Hoyle, Colin Maken, and Carly Carlson who were looking through a series of reports on their initial analyses of the bodies.

"Well this is a fine mess," Henry remarked finally as he tossed his clipboard onto a nearby counter. Jake didn't say anything in response to that he just continued looking through the report.

"Could it just be a bad batch that went through the re-sequencer?" asked Colin thoughtful.

"Maybe, but from the reports coming in from Nublar, some of the dinosaurs there have been similarly affected as well," Abby pointed out. "That screams different batches similar problems to me."

"I agree," said Derek but otherwise said nothing else. Silence fell on the group until Carly turned to Jake who was still looking through the report.

"What do you think, Jake?" the female scientist asked curious. Jake continued consulting the report for a few moments and then smoothed out the pages on his clipboard and then looked at the group.

"I think we all know what we need to do," he told them frankly. "A, G, C, and T. We have to tear this thing's genetic structure down to its core, examine it, and then compare it to the code that we have in the computers."

The others wanted to groan at that suggestion given how long it would take to get that done, but they knew it was the only answer to the mystery surrounding why the lysine contingency had taken such an unexpected turn.

"Hey, we don't have to know the answer by tomorrow," said Jake consoling them. "So go back to whatever you were doing and we'll work on this when we have the free time."

The others nodded their heads and silently filed out of the room and went back to work as Henry watched them go and turned to Jake.

"So what do you really think?" the scientist asked of his friend. Jake shrugged as he leaned against a counter and pondered the corpses in front of him.

"I think we'll need to somehow get to Kenya without anyone knowing," he said finally. Henry turned downtrodden at that but nodded his head in agreement.

"So you think the genetic sequences may have been tampered with?" he asked in a hushed tone, not sure if he wanted to know what the response would be.

"I don't know," Jake confessed. "But there's too many unanswered questions coming up all at once about them being doing things they shouldn't be able to. Breeding, having the lysine contingency act up, other things we likely haven't seen yet, it's not adding up. So either the dinosaurs are somehow evolving and there's nothing shady going on and nothing we can do about it, or the genetic code was tampered with in which case there is something sinister going on, but we can put a stop to it. Neither option sounds very appealing but they're the only ones we have."

Henry nodded his head, having had similar thoughts about this mess as Jake stood back up and headed for the exit as he did the same.

"I just hope the master tapes in Kenya haven't been tampered with," Jake hoped aloud as he shut the door behind them and it sealed shut. Henry nodded his head.

"Do you think we should tell anyone about this?" he asked further as the two walked up the stairs and then down a catwalk that overlooked the bustling production facilities below with scientists moving from egg cache to egg cache inside each incubator and making various notes about what they saw.

"Nope," said Jake bluntly, being distrustful of those higher up than him just came naturally to him.

"Well I think we should keep Samantha in the loop," Henry figured. "We both know she's the only one who is really on our side when it comes to the board."

Jake mulled that over for a few moments. "Well, only if we can prove something's wrong," he relented. "Otherwise she'll just think we're up to no good again."

"I can agree with that," Henry said knowingly while nodding his head. "She didn't believe us about DX until that galimimus collapsed during the investor meeting."

Jake nodded and the two walked past the front receptionist's desk and were outside walking towards a vehicle that was being loaded with various genetic waste canisters to be offloaded at the dock for proper disposal. The two were walking up to the cab to get in when Jake noticed a canister that hadn't been loaded.

"What's with that one?" asked Jake, curious. The workers looked at their manifest.

"We've only got fifty barrels here," said the worker confused. "Can you go read me the ID number on it while we secure these."

Jake shrugged lightly. "Okay," he said trying to be helpful as he headed for the barrel of genetic waste that was thoroughly sealed with bio-hazard markings all around it. But as he reached the barrel, it seemed to rock slightly on its own.

"Did you see that?" Jake called back to Henry a little nervous. Henry looked at him confused.

"See what?" his friend asked confused. Jake shook his head.

"Never mind," he said as he bent over to look at the number but found it had been scratched off.

"Hey there's no number on here!" Jake shouted back to the workers. The worker was so startled he nearly dropped his clipboard.

"GET AWAY FROM THAT CONTAINER NOW!" the worker shouted as he ran behind the truck to hide along with his coworker.

"What's going on?" asked Henry concerned as he took retreated from the canister.

"Sometimes when the different biowaste comes into contact with each other, they can create a mutated life form," the worker stated in fear. "Those canisters are supposed to be disposed of immediately in the field but this one must've gotten put in the wrong batch. Get away from that contained Mr. Whitacre, whatever is in there is pure instinct and deadly!"

"What?" said Jake astounded as he turned to them. "That's the biggest load of-."

POP! THUMP!

The large plastic cap of the canister popped off behind Jake and fell to the ground as a shadow fell over Jake and heavy respiration could be heard behind him. The scientist slowly turned with terrified eyes as he found himself looking at a green and goopy monster of a creature that had emerged from the large canister.

"Holy shit!" he shouted but was frozen in terror as the two green appendages of the creature landed on his shoulders so he couldn't get away. The creature then seemed to notice the scientist and leaned its strange looking head towards him until they were face to face as Jake was now beyond words. The creature then reared back and opened its mouth as a single sound emerged.

"BOOOOOO!" said an all too familiar female voice to Jake's ears as realization dawned on him and his expression went from shock to pure anger.

"DAMMIT KATRICE, I'll KILL YOU!" shouted Jake as Katrice in her strange mud and other unknown substances disguise laughed her head off and then jumped out of the canister and ran away as Jake chased after her across the field. Behind him, Henry and the two workers were on the ground laughing hysterically that the prank Katrice had designed had been so successfully pulled off.

Veterinarian's Lab, Isla Sorna: "Well, so far so good. I don't think they noticed anything," said one of Gerry Harding's subordinates. The head vet nodded his head as the small group of veterinarians was clustered around the steel tables where they had to handle dinosaur injuries and the like.

"You did a very good job with this," Gerry agreed nodding his head. "And it's a good thing too because I don't think they would've given us any answers about what they were up to."

"Well, sir, if you don't mind my asking, what do you think is going on?" asked another veterinarian. Gerry made a light flip of his hand to indicate that he had no idea.

"I don't want to guess because I could be making a big deal out of nothing," he informed his group. "That's why we can't anyone about this. I will keep you in the loop about what I find, I promise, but if anyone found out about what we're about to do, it could create more problems than it would solve. Understood?"

The veterinary staff all exchanged glances and nodded their heads.

"I don't get how you're going to get that stuff past customs," said an assistant curious. Gerry sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"The downside of all this merger talk is actually to our advantage with this," he informed the group. "Things can slip through, they always do; Nedry is proof of that. And I'll find a way to get this to where it needs to go."

"So who are you going to get that stuff analyzed by?" asked another worker. Gerry reached down and took the vials from the table, one with blood inside it, another containing a small skin sample, and the third having a spit sample…all secretly taken from the dinosaurs Jake and Henry had had stored in the cold lockers and all without his knowledge.

"There's a division of Pacific Pharmaceuticals that does genetic testing and analysis with no questions asked about where the samples came from," Gerry explained. "My daughter uses them for testing on animals she's analyzing in the wild and when DX rolled around, my colleagues back at the San Diego Zoo were able to compare what they observed in our samples with results from tests they had had run by Pacific Pharmaceuticals on similar samples and their ideas on how to fix it. They shouldn't have a problem just giving us a straight by the numbers analysis."

The others nodded as Gerry pocketed the vials and then placed them in a container and then put it in the safe for him to send later.

"So…I'd say we've put in our hours this morning, how about going back to HQ for some lunch?" he then ventured. Smiles and rumbling stomachs were heard across the group as they all headed to the exit as Gerry Harding slammed the safe door shut and went to join them.

Site B Control Room: Arby and Sheila were having an enthusiastic conversation about all sorts of computers specs and capabilities as Kelly's eyes began to glaze over and she was in danger of falling asleep from listening to them. She was also a little bit hungry too, but there was no way she was going to be left with a bunch of adults who were likely going to be just as boring.

But her resolve was weakening as her head drooped lower and lower to the table until the door was heard opening and all heads turned toward the entrance as Daniela St. Ives walked in with a folio bursting with papers.

"Hi," the head of Indigo said a little timidly. "I know you're using most of the computers in here for the Nublar operation, but is there one I might be able to use for a little bit?"

Sheila looked as if she was going to scowl at the intrusion before she chuckled briefly and gave a genuine smile.

"Sure, it's no problem. Go ahead and use A16," the female programmer offered genuinely.

"Thanks," said Daniela grateful as she walked over to a computer in the corner and set down her stuff. "How're things going on Nublar?"

"Alright, I guess," Sheila figured. "They're finishing up securing the Visitors Center before they head out into the park."

"Wild stuff," said Daniela, a little saddened by what had happened just a few weeks ago. Especially given it shouldn't have happened at all if her people had been doing their jobs properly. No matter what Peter Ludlow and the board felt, it was her fault for what had happened and she had to get to the bottom of it. If someone had authorized her coworkers to let Nedry through with no questions asked, she needed to find out who had done and it more importantly, why.

And so that was why she was down in the control room of Sorna about to go through logs of message passing through the company's intranet to Indigo…and there were a lot of them even though she knew the timeframe of when the messages had been sent. But she was just grateful that she even had an opportunity to do this so early into her investigation without drawing attention. Right now everyone's eyes were on Nublar including, she hoped, whoever had sent that message.

"Let me know if you need any help," Sheila offered before returning to her conversation with Arby about properly sequencing Cray XMPs. Daniela nodded her head but otherwise said nothing as she began navigating through the system.

"Hi," said a voice almost immediately as she was getting into the electronic mail system. Because she had been so engrossed in her work, Daniela was startled by the intrusion but managed to avoid displaying any external emotion.

"You're Kelly, right?" asked Daniela turning to face her and not just be rude and brush her off. The young woman nodded her head.

"Ms. St. Ives, right?" Kelly responded in turn. Daniela nodded her head.

"You can call me Daniela, everybody else does," she offered and Kelly brightened at that.

"Thanks," Kelly remarked, glad to be treated like equal with such a high ranking member of InGen. "Whatcha working on?"

Daniela glanced up briefly to see what Sheila and Arby were up to, but both were hunched over a technical diagram and making notes on it with a pencil. She then returned her attention to her keyboard and began typing away on it once more.

"I'm just looking through old electronic messages sent through the servers here to try and figure something out," Daniela admitted as she began rooting through different directories of the messaging system.

"Like what?" asked Kelly in a hushed tone as if being let in on some secret. Daniela had to crack a grin at the young woman's tone.

"Nothing too exciting I'm afraid right now," she stated. "But if you want to be my assistant during your time here, we may uncover something interesting. So what do you say?"

Kelly's eyes really brightened at that. "Awesome, I'm in. But could you do me one favor in return…"

Daniela laughed aloud already knowing what that request would be. "Don't worry; I'll be sure to put in a good with Doctor Harding for you so you might be able to meet his daughter…"

San Diego, California: Sarah Harding was let in by the medical orderlies to Ian Malcolm's room where she found him hooked up to life support devices and clearly under the influence of medication.

"Ch-chaos…that's…big…pile…of…," he said in his mild delirium from the drugs as Sarah sighed and pulled a chair up next to the bed.

"Ian?" she asked of her on again and off again boyfriend. "Ian, it's me Sarah."

"Pirates…tourists…," said the chaotician apparently still not recognizing her presence in the room. Sarah briefly rubbed her forehead in annoyance as she realized that Ian was in no state to be answering anything. But she needed answers because doing nothing wasn't an option.

"Ian?" she asked again, this time lightly slapping him on the side of face to try and rouse him from his delirium. This time his eyes seemed to gain a little bit of focus and they shifted over as if regarding Sarah for the first time as his mouth grinned slightly.

"Sarah…," he said in recognition. "I've always liked your hair down…"

Sarah groaned at that before realizing she had to put her current hair status that behind her.

"Ian, listen to me," she pleaded as she took out the piece of paper she'd been handed by a mysterious stranger just a day prior. "John Hammond, Dennis Nedry, John Arnold, Robert Muldoon, Henry Wu, Gerry Harding…"

With each word, she saw the recognition on Ian's face become clearer and clearer as if he was really emerging from the delirium he had been in.

"Ian?" she asked one more time. Ian looked up at her with sadness in her eyes.

"I need to know what happened at Jurassic Park," she finally stated. Now it was Ian's turn to sigh.

"John you crazy son of a bitch, you did it, you really did it," he began sadly still somewhat in a haze, but at least he was answering her question and Sarah clicked her pen and quickly began scribbling down everything he said.

Later that day, the sun set once more on Islas Indigo, Nublar, and Sorna bringing an end to an otherwise uneventful day. On Nublar, Jeff and his team were corralled in his room discussing what they had learned about what had happened to Jurassic Park thanks to Nedry's actions. Elsewhere, Ed James and Howard King were busy discussing what they had observed during the day. In San Diego, John Brown sat up late at night looking over what his team had collected in San Diego and looking over detailed satellite photos he'd 'acquired' that showed what was going on with Nublar. And still elsewhere in a cushy office in San Diego, Peter Ludlow sat reviewing his notes over the day's events while also looking at a computer displaying recent activity across the company's intranet.

Sorna: As everyone said their goodnights and closed up for the day, Sam was in his office cleaning up some things when he noticed a supply truck rolling in. Looking out, he saw Jake and Henry hop off and they were followed by a third being that caused Sam to do double take as a green and goopy monster appeared with them underneath the street lamps as the truck parked nearby.

Sam watched with a curious stare for a few more moments as the goopy monster shivered in the cold night air as Jake laughed at the being's discomfort until it turned and hugged the scientist getting him all messy. Jake in turn gave the monster a friendly return hug and then faked a lunge at the creature which then turned tail and ran inside the workers quarters thereby answering Sam's question about what that thing was.

"Nice to see some old habits die hard," he said with a mild grin as he powered down his computer.

"You say something, Sam?" asked a voice from the hallway causing the head of Sorna to briefly jump as he saw Daniela in the doorway.

"What are you still doing up?" he asked instead, curious. "We didn't see much of you or that Kelly girl past lunch."

Daniela yawned into her hand. "Well unlike you whose work is here, mine is a good seventy-five miles or so northeast of here," she pointed out. "And I need an assistant to help me in my work and I can't trust anyone on this island with the haphazard training they receive. So I made the best of a bad situation and found someone whom fit the criteria."

Sam grabbed his coat off of his chair and put it on as he shook his head lightly at his counterpart. "You're a hero to us all with your work ethic."

"You're damn right," Daniela agreed lightly as she leaned against the side of the doorframe for support as she looked around Sam's office before her eyes settled on a chalkboard on the side wall.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked of a single number present on the chalkboard with two words next to it. Sam looked at the number solemnly.

"Yeah," he confirmed as he got up and walked over to it. "I use it as a reminder of the bigger picture…of what's really important no matter what the future has in store for us."

Daniela nodded her head in silence as Sam walked up to the number and took an eraser and wiped it off the board before writing a new one in its place just one increment lower.

"Is that number accurate?" Daniela felt herself needing to ask since this would now be her place of work.

"Nicolette seems to think so and she's rarely wrong," Sam confessed as he put down the piece of chalk and stepped back from the board. Daniela eased her way off the doorframe and stepped into the room and looked at the number solemnly.

"Look, Sam, I…," she began reluctantly. The head of Sorna immediately held up his hand.

"I'm sure you'll find out the truth," he told her knowingly. "But the less I know until you do find it, the better."

Daniela nodded her head distantly as Sam walked up to her and he rested his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"I know what happened on Nublar wasn't your fault," he told her. "Now you just have to prove it."

Daniela nodded her head again, this time with renewed focus. "I will," she swore as the two walked together out of the room as a brachiosaur was heard calling in the distance.

Behind them they left a chalkboard that simply read: _84 Days Left_.

A/N: I've finally figured out many days are left on the countdown and I'll be going back and fixing the previous chapters to make sure the right amount of days left are displayed.


	19. Let Slip the Dogs of War

A/N: This chapter is a little gruesome, just a warning.

The Next Day: Maintenance Shed, Isla Nublar: Jeff Thomas and Ed Regis were squatting over a decaying corpse of an African-America male that had been found stuffed in a corner and had nearly been torn to shreds with bites marks all over the body. Ed had his face covered with a handkerchief as he looked positively green at what he was seeing.

"Who was he?" Jeff asked curious as he wrote down some notes on where they had found the body as a team member nearby took photos of the corpse.

"John Arnold," Ed Regis confirmed. "More informally he went by Ray. He was one of the two lead programmers we had on this island."

"And I'm guessing he came here to turn the power back on," Jeff figured as he looked over at a metal door whose wire mesh had been torn off but through the opening he saw buttons for turning on the individual park systems.

"That's what our depositions confirm only he wasn't aware that the power reset had turned the power off on the raptor fences and they subsequently escaped and came after him," Ed answered sadly. "The woman who ended up turning on the power accidentally stumbled on his severed arm and thought he was still alive until…"

Jeff nodded his head knowingly but said nothing until he finished his visual report on the scene and looked at the photographer who gave a solemn nod and then Jeff stood up and turned to a couple of hazmat workers.

"Alright, bag him up," he ordered emotionlessly and stepped back as they group prepared to seal Ray Arnold in a body bag for transport back to the mainland.

"So who is left that we're missing?" asked Jeff as he put his notepad away. "We've found the lawyer where your report said he would be and we know where Dennis Nedry's final resting place and we've just located Arnold."

"All that we are missing is the game warden, Robert Muldoon," Ed answered as he and Jeff headed back for the entrance to the shed.

"You're certain the Velociraptors got him?" Jeff inquired.

"We're sure," Ed confirmed as they emerged into the daylight. "According to our eye witness, they split ways somewhere down that path as Muldoon went after the raptors. Given that all three appeared later on, that would mean…"

Jeff nodded his head in agreement. "I'd rather not send anyone out there into the jungle until we can confirm liquidation of all biological assets first. This dirt path is dangerous enough as it is."

"Agreed," said Ed nodding his head vigorously as he looked at the mist covered jungle beyond the chain-linked fence surrounding the shed. "I suppose there's no word of the other teams encountering any velociraptors?"

Jeff silently shook his head and then Chip and his team emerged from the shed indicating that the building was secure.

"Alright, lock it up then," Jeff ordered as he and Ed headed off down the path and was shortly joined by Chip and his team who scanned the jungle around them for any signs of movement. Eventually they exited the jungle only to find themselves alongside the Velociraptor enclosure with its mangled section of fencing leading to the outside.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," said Ed softly. Jeff watched him solemnly wondering if he should say something or not but before he could get a chance, the treetops shook as a helicopter raced overhead headed for the Visitors Center. And with that distraction, Ed Regis was now again in business mode as he strode with purpose back to the base of operations for the dismantling of Jurassic Park. Jeff watched him go and then lightly shook his head wondering if he'd gotten into more than he could handle by volunteering to infiltrate this operation…and whether or not, when all was said and done, that it'd be worth it to his boss, John Brown.

San Diego: Sarah Harding was in one of the labs at the University of California at Berkley holding a piece of golden fossilized tree resin in her hands.

"Amber…," she said in deep concentration on the object.

"That's right," said a white coated scientist sitting nearby with his hands clasped in his lap. "It has a number of uses from jewelry to medicinal and even as a perfume. We like it here because it holds incredibly paleontological value because it can trap and perfectly preserve anything it comes into contact. It's a great way of peering into the past."

Sarah looked up finally from the orb as that last word had struck a nerve with her. She set the piece of amber on the counter and pulled her notebook out of her trusty pack and flipped through the pages to Ian Malcolm's confession about what had happened to him. Unfortunately, because he was still heavily sedated, the words he told her didn't make much sense…yet. But with every piece of the puzzle she was beginning to get a clearer idea of the bigger picture. And what she was looking at now was a long list of dinosaur names.

"Do you know any reasons why a genetics company would be interested in this stuff?" Sarah asked of her colleague. The scientist narrowed his eyes at her.

"By genetics company do you mean InGen?" he asked pointedly. Sarah was glad she hadn't been holding the piece of amber otherwise it would have fallen to the floor and likely smashed into several pieces. As it was she barely grabbed a hold of her notebook.

"Yes, how did you know?" Sarah asked stunned. The scientist gave her a mild grin.

"Guess it wouldn't have make the daily newspapers but about five years ago or so, InGen began buying up large amounts of amber from all over the world," the scientist continued. "They even tried to buy some from the labs here but we had to turn them down on principle."

"You mind if I…," began Sarah as she pulled out her tape recorder and also took out a pen to write down some notes. Her colleague waved off her concerns.

"It's no secret," he responded simply. "They never said why or what they were looking for but they bought enough of it at the time to cause the price on the stuff to temporarily surge."

Sarah was fiercely writing all of this down while trying to think of the next question to ask.

"And then they just stopped, why would they do that?" she asked since the price of amber only shortly surged. The scientist shrugged.

"They probably couldn't find what they were looking for," the scientist figured. "But…."

Sarah looked up a sharply. "What?" she prodded as her colleague had intentionally trailed off in his sentence. The scientist shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"I really don't want to spread unfounded rumors about a company that I really know nothing about," the scientist continued reluctantly. Sarah nodded her head and reached over and shut off the tape recorder and set down her pen.

"Off the record, then," she agreed. The scientist swallowed loudly and then nodded his head.

"Our sources for where we get our amber from have hinted that InGen may have bought some amber mines around the world," the scientist revealed. "I have no idea where they are or anything like that but it would be cheaper to own a mine than to just buy the stuff wholesale at the prices they were purchasing it for. And that's really all I know…about InGen. You have any questions about amber, let me know."

"I will," Sarah promised as she collected her things and left the lab with her thoughts about what she had gotten herself into.

"I see you're making some headway," a familiar voice came from a no less mysterious stranger. Sarah turned to see the man she knew as 'John' sitting at a table in the lobby while reading a newspaper and enjoying some coffee.

"You might say that," she said, no less annoyed that he was here and that she needed information from him. And so she took a seat.

"You know the game, you give me something, I give you something," said John bluntly as he folded his paper and stared at her, waiting for her to make her move. Sarah sighed and pushed her notebook across the table and the man glanced through it before taking out a notepad and jotting some things down.

"Thanks," he said and pushed the notebook back. Given how little he had written down, it was clear none of the dinosaur names had surprised him.

"So…," Sarah began anxiously, desperately needing another clue. John looked at her and then turned thoughtful as to what his next statement.

"Mano De Dios," he said finally as he stood up.

"That doesn't mean anything to me," said Sarah a little testy at being given riddles rather than answers. John stopped briefly and nodded his head.

"Well it might if you lived in the Dominican Republic," he concluded offhand. "Until next time."

Sarah for her part now turned thoughtful rather than wallowing in anger which would accomplish little. "Why do you even need me?" she had to ask. "Why do you even care?"

John shrugged lightly and kept walking without saying a word.

"It's because you did something and screwed up and now you're trying to make up for it aren't you?" Sarah ventured. John laughed at that.

"Stick to animal behavioral studies, you're no good as a psychologist," he remarked and then was gone from sight. Sarah shook her head lightly and then wrote down Mano de Dios in her notebook and then after another moment of thinking about their conversation, wrote down Dominican Republic as well. Then she repacked her notebook and immediately headed for the business library of the university.

Sorna: The inspection team, minus Kelly and Arby who had returned to San Diego yesterday evening to attend their summer classes on Monday, were walking with Lori Ruso as she continued her tour of the Village.

"And this is the gas station next to our parking garage," said Lori as the group paused outside of the twin pumps in front of the small building that had a wall full of vehicle keys.

"I don't need to see this!" Levine scoffed with outstretched arms at the station. Lori gave a mock disappointed expression at his outburst.

"You are here to conduct an inspection of this island and determine it's viability for continued operation," she stated matter of fact. "This gas station provides fuel to vehicles heading in and out of this facility. Without it, we'd largely have to walk as opposed to having to carpool at the moment until the electric tour vehicles are up and running."

Having to defend those electric deathtraps made Lori shudder internally before moving beyond that and then looking at Levine pointedly for a rebuttal.

"I want to speak with Samantha," Levine demanded for the umpteenth time. Lori shook her head with false sympathy.

"She was called away to Isla Nublar to oversee part of the deconstruction. She'll either be back this evening or sometime tomorrow," Lori replied dismissively. "Next we'll see the garage which is where we keep our fleet of vehicles along with the diesel pumps."

Levine growled under his breath but otherwise followed the tour as it headed into the underground garage.

Nublar: Ed Regis strode across the clearing in front of Visitors Center and past the front pond as a blue InGen helicopter slowly stopped spinning its blades. From the inside, Samantha Brown and Nicolette Stefrassa emerged and walked to meet him.

"Ed," said Samantha with a professional smile in otherwise less than happy circumstances with Nublar's demolition going on around them. Ed gave her a silent nod and then turned to Nicolette.

"Well, I certainly haven't seen you in a long time," the PR man remarked but then turned to the operation going on around them and nodded his head. "Although the work your team did coming up with a quick and easy way to disassemble Nublar has proven to be very helpful."

Nicolette tipped her head acknowledging the compliment. "Part of the work goes to Lori Ruso and her designs, but my team was able to then craft that work into a faster timeline. My team prides itself on creating something with top accuracy and effectiveness provided the plans are carried out to the letter."

Ed had to avoid shaking his head at her words. The woman didn't mince words which would make her a PR nightmare if she ever had to say anything on camera. Fortunately, Nicolette often shunned the public scene to focus on her work, not that that did anything to tame her ego.

"Well if you'll just come with me, we'll…," Ed's voice trailed off as he noticed two figures appear from behind the helicopter. "What are you two doing here?"

Of the two scientists who were now before him, Jake gave him a big smile as Henry chuckled lightly at the response to their arrival.

"Well we figured since we had to bail you out the last time you here that we wanted to see if things went more smoothly this time," said Henry amused. Ed's eyes narrowed at that comment while Jennifer emerged from the cockpit of the helicopter.

"Technically I'm the one who bailed them out, you two didn't do jack," she reminded Jake and Henry before turning to Samantha. "And my past two experiences here weren't pleasant ones so can I please not have stay here during you visit?"

"No," said Samantha bluntly and then returned her attention to Ed. "I'm sorry I have to be here at all to oversee you, but the Board required a member to be present in-person on this island every three days or so. I'm sure you understand."

"Rules are rules," Ed figured as he shrugged. "C'mon, I'll show you where we are."

Samantha and Nicole followed him as Jake and Henry followed behind at a distance.

"Seriously, why are they here?" Ed asked curious. Samantha just gave a look of confusion herself.

"They said they needed to pull something from the databanks, they never said what," she recalled. Now Ed was the one confused.

"I thought we linked up the Nublar computers to Sorna," he pointed out. Samantha gave a half-hearted expression on her face in response to that.

"I'm sure they had their reasons," the Board member figured, not really caring what the two scientists would be up to on the island so long as they didn't get in her way or interfere with anything. Ed meanwhile gave a small glance back at the two scientists who were walking calmly far behind them as Henry had his hands in his coat pockets while Jake and Jennifer were arguing about something or other and judging from Jennifer's steamed expression it likely related to Jake's impression of her flying abilities.

But as he turned back, he thought he caught a glimpse of a troubled expression in both of their eyes of something he couldn't pin down, but of something that apparently wasn't related to the destruction of Nublar as they paid it no notice as they walked into the lobby where the bones of brachiosaur and tyrannosaur were being stacked into piles.

"We'll be around," said Henry abruptly cutting into his thoughts as he and Jake immediately wandered off in another direction to an unknown destination. Ed watched them go and then decided a moment later that worrying about their concerns was too much for his system with having to worry about the future of InGen's operations.

"The Control Room is this way," he said, glad to have gotten that concern out of his system. Samantha nodded her head, but she too had seen Jake and Henry's expressions and coupled with Ludlow's apparent concern that the two apparently knew something they shouldn't worried her more than anything. Things were always strained between the COO and the two lead scientists and she prayed that with InGen in the state it was now in that things wouldn't completely split open between them.

She'd have to question the two later, she had no doubt about it, but for now she had more pressing matters to attend to as her group entered into the Control Room and she could now only gape at the shattered glass window leading to the auditorium.

"Yeah, that was my reaction to," Ed chuckled despite himself.

Indigo: Daniela was sitting at her desk sorting through the messages she and Kelly had recovered from the InGen servers on Sorna and made various observations as she consulted with her notes she had taken from interviewing her various personnel about Nedry's easy clearance through customs. And on top of that, she'd also taken interest in Jake and Henry's little pet project about finding out why so many of Nublar's personnel had been recalled from the island during the Jurassic Park inspection that had gone horribly wrong. On the one hand it had lessened the amount of casualties when the dinosaurs escaped but on the other hand it also meant that with more workers, Jurassic Park might've been brought back online before it reached the point where the island could no longer be used.

And the timing was just too coincidental in her mind for it to not have been intentional on someone's part, the only question was who…and why.

RING RING RING

"Yes?"

"Boss, it's time for your meeting with the workers about InGen's future plans,"

Daniela sighed heavily and massaged her temples with her hands and then nodded her head.

"I'll be right out,"

As if she didn't have enough to deal with right now.

San Jose, Costa Rica: John Brown was once more in the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Field Office as he reviewed a topographic map of Isla Nublar and compared it with satellite photos he'd collected of the island over the past few days. He made various marks with his pencil on the map and dated those marks and then reviewed them in context with the prior dated notes he had made. After drawing various inferences and conclusions, he pulled a file out of his briefcase which read "InGen Demolition Plans for Site A Facility" which was marked "Confidential" which he immediately opened and began reading through before nodding his head.

"Well they seem to be doing alright," he said aloud to himself. And then there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," John ordered as he quickly put the file back away and looked up to see a Pharmaceutical Worker enter.

"The information you requested, sir," the worker said as they handed over a cardboard sleeve full of photos.

"Ah, yes, thank you," said John grateful as he took the package and the worker left the room. He immediately opened the package and spread the photos on top of the map of Nublar and began looking at them.

"So Mr. Gutierrez, what did you find out before InGen let you in on their little secret?" John wondered as he looked at the pictures taken from a distance into Mr. Gutierrez's workplace that showed a map on his wall of the Costa Rica coastline with various pins of different colors stuck into it and a single word title at the top: "Incidents".

John instantly reached over and grabbed a map of his own that was identical to the one of Mr. Gutierrez's only with fewer markings on it and he instantly made the other markings on it and then took a ruler and placed one end on Isla Nublar and drew lines from it to the new points he had made and saw how they compared to the lines he had already made.

"Shit," he said leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his chin deep in thought. He then immediately hit a button on his phone.

"Yes?" asked the secretary on the other end.

"Tell whichever Costa Rican Cabinet Minister is in charge of wildlife that I need to see him immediately," said John into it and then shut off the speaker while the secretary had begun to respond in the affirmative and he once more looked at the map.

"My God, it's worse than I thought," he remarked exasperated and then immediately pulled out a magnifying glass and looked at the pictures of Gutierrez's map once more and began writing down the dates he saw next to the marks he had just made.

Nublar: Jake and Henry were sequestered away in Henry's office in front of his computer terminal which was waiting for the inputting of commands.

"Well, go ahead," said Jake verbally prodding Henry. Henry turned to him.

"You do it," he replied crossing his arms. Jake gave him a dim expression at his refusal to type in the command as Henry sighed.

"Do you even understand the implications of what we might find out if there is a variance in the code?" he asked of his friend. Jake shrugged with his lack of caring expression clearly on his face.

"It's either that or accept the damned frog theory," the scientist figured with a bitter taste in his mouth. "And there's no way we made a mistake like that."

Henry had to agree with that statement even though they still hadn't completely heard what Alan Grant's theory was.

"You realize Ludlow's going to know what we're up to," Henry continued as he reached for the keyboard already knowing what his friend's response would be.

"So what?" replied Jake dismissively. "He must know we're here anyway. If doing this provokes him into doing something at least we'll know something is up."

Henry had to agree with that as he finally reached over and typed in a couple of commands and then opened the CD Drive as he took out a binder that was filled with plastic sleeves containing numerous CD-ROMs. He looked through the various sleeves that had all been identified with permanent marker on pieces of tape before finding the CD he was looking for.

"Here we go, the Tyrannosaurus Rex DNA strand," Henry noted out loud. "The first dino DNA strand we unraveled and probably the most complete strand as well. If there's any difference between our records and Nublar's, this would prove it."

Jake nodded and took the CD from him and then held it in his hands and promptly sighed as he contemplated the disc.

"What?" asked Henry concerned. Jake gave the disc one more look before looking at Henry with a mischievous smile.

"Floppies forever!" he said melodramatically as Henry groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Do you need me to remind you that the last time you said that Sheila smacked you?" he asked his friend bluntly. "Because I'll remind her if you keep this up."

"Ah but where's your sense of excitement Henry?" asked Jake as he loaded the CD into the tray and closed it. Henry immediately began typing in some commands before once more turning his attention back to his friend.

"Between this and having to deal with the escaped dinosaurs on this island, I'd say I've had enough excitement to last a lifetime," he remarked and then hit the final command and the program on the computer began running to compare the DNA strands.

"Well that was anticlimactic," said Jake as he consulted his watch and then stood up. "We seem to have plenty of time on our hands until that is completed so how about a walk?"

"And go where to do what?" asked his fellow scientist curious as he stood up as well. Jake gave him a solemn expression.

"Search for out our answers first hand," he said grimly. Henry nodded his head glumly as he dug into one of the cabinets of his office and removed a cardboard box full of rubber gloves and put them in his pack as Jake checked to make sure they had all the surgical equipment they would need for what they were going to do.

And then both shared a pointed glance at each other and then headed for the door.

Control Room: Cassie Matula was snacking on a power bar as she looked at the security cameras showing the two scientists leaving the building. She instantly felt a wave of relief rush through her that the two hadn't come to the Control Room with Samantha Brown and the rest because they could easily identify her, Jeff, and the rest of the team from having seen them with their boss in that café in Costa Rica.

But upon reflection, she knew of her boss's driving interest to always know what those two were up to. She just didn't know why he was so interested in them beyond the scope of the mission.

"_Oh well, I guess that's not my business…unless Sheila knows something I don't_," she figured and then shut down her terminal and packed it away before heading for the exit of the room.

"Going somewhere?" asked Tim curious from the main terminal as he continued staring intently at the screen and typing in various commands.

"Yeah, I need to use the little girl's room so where is it?" she asked sharply. Tim blinked at that comment suddenly no longer focused on his work before he lifted a hand to his mouth as he choked back a laugh as Cassie looked at him strangely.

"I-I'm sorry," he apologized still amused as he took off his glasses to wipe away a tear. "It wasn't what you asked it's just that I've been a little on edge right now with everything that's going on and what you just said just reminded me of something my coworker sometimes says when I get too focused on my work and forget to give her a break."

He turned to regard the new hire and raised his eyebrows at seeing her orange hair as Cassie tried to avoid showing any sign of emotion at the mention of similarities between her and her sister.

"So you're the one who looked like a makeup bag exploded all over her when this whole thing began," he said with recognition as he leaned forward in his chair. "I'm Tim but I didn't get your name."

Cassie shook his hand that he then extended to her. "Cassandra, but I go by Cassie for short."

"Oh, yeah I remember your file now," he said as he returned his attention to his screen and was trying to hide the fact that he was now pulling up her file on his monitor and glancing through it. "You have quite the background. Plus you're also one of the few here who never interviewed with InGen back when we were originally hiring programmers during the startup phase of this place."

Cassie cocked her head to the side. "So?" she asked, although she was curious who the other programmers were that hadn't interviewed and if their motives for being here were similar to hers. But Tim shrugged and otherwise said nothing and typed a few commands into his computer and the nearby door lock opened.

"Just follow the unlocked doors and you'll get to where you need to be," he said dismissively. Cassie tipped her head at him and then turned to leave as Tim regarded her curiously.

"You don't happen to know a Sheila Matula do you?" he called out to her after a moment's debate. Cassie immediately froze in her tracks at hearing that.

"The name sounds familiar," she chose to admit not facing him. "What makes you think I know her?"

"You and her were at the same university at the same time studying for the same degree," Tim answered. "I was just curious."

"Who is she to you?" asked Cassie pointedly.

"The coworker I talked about earlier. Maybe I'll get the chance to introduce you two sometime," he figured. "Well I don't want to keep you."

"Thanks," said Cassie unsure of what else to say and then immediately exited the room. She wandered down the hallway trying to push that conversation out of her mind as she watched the security cameras down the various hallways to see if she was being tracked. But to her relief the cameras were just performing standard sweeps which made sense since she was supposed to only be able to get where she needed to go and then come right back. And so she continued to the bathroom in silence and after walking in and making sure it was empty she took out her Bluetooth headset and turned it on and put it over her head. She then pulled out another electronic device and flipped it on as well and scrolled through the list of team members available and then pressed in a command once she'd reached her team leader's option.

"Jeff, Jeff?" she asked into her headset after a few moments had passed but heard nothing on the other end. She then looked at the device again and pressed a couple of commands into it and then brought the device over to the high window above her to try and get a better signal. But after a few moments she was still left with nothing which probably meant Jeff was too far out of range of her broadcast.

"So now what?" she wondered aloud before checking her watch to see how much time had passed since she'd left the control room. She then looked around in a haze of uncertainty before focusing her mind on the problem at hand and looking for a solution. Finally after a little thinking she came up with one and reached into her bag and pulled out a small flip notebook. After thumbing through a few pages she reached a small foldout piece of paper tucked into the pages and took it out.

Quickly unfolding it and placing it against the ceramic tile wall she looked at a map of the Visitors Center that her boss John Brown had somehow acquired and looked at her location and then traced her finger to the science lab. Quickly memorizing which route she had to take she then folded the map back up and tucked it away in the notebook and then put that away before reaching into her shirt and pulling out a lanyard around her neck holding the InGen security ID card her sister had given her earlier.

"This'd better work or mom'll never let you hear the end of it," she swore aloud and then consulted her watch once more and raced out the door.

Sorna: "And the fences are constantly coursing with 10,000 volts of electricity in order to ward off any dino escapees," said Lori as the tour group was now at the perimeter fence surrounding the village.

"Do you get many of those?" Gutierrez asked ready to write down everything she said. Lori thought about that question for a few moments before giving her response.

"We use to in the early days but not so much these days unless a tree accidentally falls down during a storm and breaks a fence," she admitted truthfully. "That being said, we keep track of every dinosaur on this island and we haven't lost any of them."

"I'll have to verify that myself as part of the inspection," Gutierrez informed her. Lori waved off that response with a flick of her wrist.

"Fine with me, we've got nothing to hide," she told him offhandedly. As she was going to lead them out of the compound to view the external piping that pumped in geothermal energy to the power plant inside the compound, a siren went off for a good minutes and then the lights on top of the electrified fences started flickering.

"You're having power issues already?" said Thorne concerned as he reached into his bag to pull out the projected timeline for power loss across the island.

"Huh?" asked Lori confused before she caught on to what he was saying before shaking her head. "Oh, no no no no no. The geothermal plant inside the compound can supply power to the entire village without replenishment; it's only the outside fences and structures that are in danger of losing power in a few months. What you're seeing now is a test we make of all fences on the island to check for shorts or any other problems with the lines. We check them every so often by periodically cycling large amounts of electricity through them and…"

Lori abruptly trailed off at that as she realized something and her expression suddenly became uncertain.

"What?" demanded Levine concerned and a little angry that something was being kept from them during this inspection.

Lori instantly returned to her normal alert self and faced them. "I'm going to have cut this tour short," she responded and began herding the group back into the village.

"Not until you tell us what's going-," began Levine irate when suddenly a warning buzzer went off repeatedly as several workers armed with weapons rushed out of the Operations Building and down to several waiting jeeps and then raced off into the jungle past the bewildered tour group.

Lori watched them go past as she tried to think of an answer to what was going on when the sound of feet running toward them was heard. The group turned in silence to see Carly Carlson came to a stop in front of them before she leaned over breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"They-they're-," she began trying to find her words but she saw that Lori understood what she meant.

"Shit," she said simply as she held her head in her hands as she felt a headache coming on. "They just don't quit do they?"

"If it makes you feel better they're already half way up the fence. Sam needs to see you right now," Carly told her pointedly. Lori's jaw dropped at that before she turned to the tour group.

"Lodge, now!" she ordered.

"No," said Levine forcefully. "This is an important part of our inspection and if you cover up whatever's going on then we'll have to state that in our reports. No offense."

"Not that it's too difficult to figure out what is going on anyway," Thorne continued. "You're cycling power through the fences meaning that at different intervals there's no power coursing through them."

"And some of your smarter residents have gotten wind of this and are now trying to escape," Gutierrez concluded. "And if what your colleague has said is true then they're almost free."

Lori scowled at their correct conclusion before sighing and nodding her head. "Alright come with me," she relented and the group headed for the Operations Building with Carly trailing behind.

Nublar, Visitors Center, Science Bay: Serena was busy putting away microscopes and other scientific instruments into various containers with her fellow workers as still others began disassembling the various computers that lined the area. It was routine work but she was secretly keeping track of the equipment in the lab to report back to her boss. But she also enjoyed handling high end technology like the Cray XMP supercomputers that were currently being taken apart. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she failed to notice a new body take up the space right next to her and then tap her on the shoulder startling her out of her reverie.

"Yes how can I help," she began when she realized who was next to her and her expression turned to shock as she saw Cassie standing right next to her. "What are you doing here?" she whispered while trying not to look around for anyone who might be watching them.

"I need to find Jeff have you seen him?" Cassie said all business as she was trying to minimize her time here in the lab. To that end she began collecting nearby tools sitting on the desk and putting them together to try and make it seem like she belonged there.

"He's out with a team doing the rounds and trying to figure out where the T-Rex went," Serena told her as she grabbed several scalpels from Cassie and put them where they should go. "Why, what's up?"

"Our boss's favorite two scientists are on this island and I think we should keep tabs on them without being seen," Cassie figured. "But you and I can't do it because we're stuck here."

Serena had to think about that for a moment. "I should be able to get a hold of Lorne and he could pass a message on to Chip. I don't think Jeff could reasonably follow them but Chip should be okay."

"Good," said Cassie pleased as she consulted her watch. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to…"

"Hello, what's going on here?" asked Samantha Brown suddenly appearing before them with Ed Regis. Cassie and Serena just stared when suddenly Tim ran into the room diverting their attention.

"We've got problems on Sorna," he explained flustered. "And we…wait what are you doing here?"

He was staring right at Cassie whose blood suddenly went cold.

Galimimus Gulley, Nublar: Galimimus corpses were being deposited in a pile by a team of workers as Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu came to a halt nearby in a Jurassic Park jeep.

"We'll take one of those if you don't mind," said Jake walking over to the two team members hauling the last of the dinosaur corpses to the pile.

"Ummm, we've been order to dispose of all the corpses," said the leader of the group as the other team members were dousing the corpses in gasoline. Jake waved off his concerns.

"We'll only be a few minutes you can wait until then," the scientist said reassuringly. "And I don't think there's any order not to let us have access to one of the corpses."

"Besides, we're InGen personnel so if there's any problem, we'll be responsible," Henry also added and the pointed to the side of the pile of corpses. "Just put it over there."

The team members looked to their leader who was trying to decide what to do before finally deciding it wasn't worth the effort and simply nodded his head. The workers unceremoniously walked over to the clearing and then dumped the corpse onto the ground and then took a step back.

"You might want to step back farther than that," Henry warned as Jake set a stainless steel case next to the galimimus and popped it open. Inside were the instruments necessary to perform a full autopsy on the body.

The workers took another few steps back.

Sorna: Lori and the inspection team burst into the Control Room as Sam hovered over Sheila who was furiously typing away on her console. On the main screen was a live feed from the Velociraptor enclosure as various members of the species was seen scaling the fence. Occasionally a flash of sparks would be seen erupting underneath one of the raptors and they would fall off the fence to the ground below as others on the ground leapt up to take their place while still others on different parts of the fence hopped from the live wires to dead ones and continued their ascent.

"Damnit even Nedry knew better than to mess with the raptor fences," Sheila remarked under her breath as she continued typing away and examining the readouts coming from the geothermal plant powering the fences along with the computer program designed to run these tests on the fences.

"Hey Lori, what are they doing here?" Sam asked curious of the inspectors. He would've been upset that the team was seeing them at their worst but the current problem was using up most of his attention.

"They figured it out anyway," the head of production responded a little miffed that the team wasn't incompetent.

"Right," said Sam feeling the same as he turned his attention back to the videoscreen.

"They going to get out?" asked Gutierrez concerned. Sam looked at Sheila who gave him a half-hearted expression based on her calculations on when the program would finish.

"Maybe," she offered noncommittally. Gutierrez groaned upon hearing that.

"I knew it!" he shouted. "I knew this island was a prison with the front door wide open!"

Lori whirled to face him. "You don't know anything!" she said angrily. "We work hard to ensure the integrity of this island and as I said earlier we haven't lost a dinosaur yet. What we're doing now is something that has to be done since these animals are no longer being shipped to Nublar where they belong. In the old days they'd attack the fences every chance they got and now this focuses their efforts down to once a month. We're too busy to be keeping tabs on them day and night."

Gutierrez turned red at that. "And somehow that makes it right to even give them a good chance to escape? You're the one who doesn't know anything. These creatures are getting off this island and making their way to the mainland!"

Lori was literally left speechless at that revelation. "That's over 200 miles away! They can't swim that far, the farthest they could get would be one of the other islands in Los Cinco Muertos and we have tracking stations on each island to see that they aren't! And they haven't! A-1 was a freak accident not the norm!"

Gutierrez was steamed at her denial over this particular issue and because she seemed to consider A-1 as not a big deal.

"I don't understand why this test needs to be done on this particular fence," said Thorne perplexed.

"It's because of the way the fence wiring is set up across the grid. We didn't realize until after we'd put them in there that this would be a problem and now we don't have the manpower or the time to change it," said Sam answering his question. And then he turned to Lori and Guiterrez a little annoyed. "Now are you two done?" he asked. "Because we-."

"Shit, there they go!" said Sheila cutting in as she quickly stood up and pointed at the screen. A pair of raptors reached the top of the fence and leapt to the ground below and ran off down the road.

Alarms began blaring anew across the island.


	20. Of Rexes and Raptors

Sorna: "Well that's just great!" said Gutierrez dismayed as he threw up his hands into the air. "Dinosaurs are loose on this island and nobody here seems concerned at all!"

"That's not true," said Sam calmly as he stared at Sheila's computer monitor. "I'm just not entirely worried about those two."

"Make that three now," Sheila observed as a third raptor went over the fence and raced after the other two. Gutierrez turned pale at that before he registered what Sam had said.

"What do you mean _those_ three?" he asked confused as the videoscreen kept changing to track the raptors.

"That's just for show," said Sam waving off the monitor. "Those raptors deliberately staged that where the cameras could see them. What we didn't see was that somewhere else around their pen, several more were trying to escape and _not_ be seen. Any luck yet, Sheila?"

"Not yet," the programmer said as she rapidly flipped from video image to video image on her screen. She then flipped back an image to what she was just looking at and then after a few moments staring at it, she nodded her head.

"Got 'em. We've got two running east down 17," she told her boss. Sam nodded.

"Let the teams know. Where's the trio headed?" he asked next. Sheila pulled up a map of Sorna and made some calculations.

"Same place as usual; the clinic," she informed him.

"Alright get me the clinic then," Sam requested before turning to the group. "As you can see, everything is perfectly under control."

Sorna Field Clinic: Roberta Carter pushed her way out of the front doors of the building as alarm sirens wailed all around her as she walked up to the front gates for the electrified fence surrounding the compound. Several vehicles raced in through the open gate doors including a water truck which skidded to a halt as the driver and the passenger leapt out of the cab and ran into the building not even bothering to close the vehicle doors behind them.

"What've we got?" she asked pointedly as another car raced past inside.

"It's all over the place," the worker responded listening to the radio chatter. "We've got some stragglers headed our way while still others are headed for the veterinary clinic or just hunkering down and hoping for the best."

"What about Medical Field Team 6?" Bobbie asked next as she wondered about the fate of a team she had sent out into the island to help with a small incident.

"They finished up and are now headed for Embryonics Administration unless you say otherwise," the worker remarked. Bobbie nodded her head approvingly.

"Good that's a lot closer than us," she stated. "Do we know what got out?"

"Not yet," the worker told her while listening to the radio ever more intently. "Wait, the Head of Operations on the horn for you."

Bobbie gratefully accepted the radio and spoke into it.

"Doctor Carter here," she said into it.

"Roberta, how are things on your end?" asked Sam using formality as well. Roberta looked at the worker who held up two fingers.

"We're awaiting two final transports and then we're sealing up," she told him.

"Well they'd better get there quick because you've got three raptors inbound and they'll be there in maybe seven or eight minutes," Sam informed her.

"When's our backup due?" the slightly worried Doctor said next.

"Another five or so," said Sam after a couple moments of checking. "I've got the rest of the teams trying to track the real problem. Not that yours isn't important as well."

"No, I understand completely," Roberta told him truthfully. Three raptors attacking this compound wasn't as big a danger as any untracked raptors were. "So what do you want us to do?"

A new vehicle raced into the compound and noisily came to a halt as the workers inside also quickly moved into the clinic.

"Close the main gate and then lock down the clinic," Sam ordered. "If you have to use your tranquilizer guns you have at your disposal, fine; but only do it as a last resort. We don't need any heroes who might unintentionally make things worse."

"And if things get really worse?" Roberta had to ask. Sam sighed.

"Then break out the small arms and hope for the best," he told her and then signed off to coordinate the efforts to recapture the raptors. That offered small comfort to Bobbie until she saw the final vehicle move into the compound.

"Alright seal it up and everybody inside the building now!" she ordered as she moved with the worker and a couple of others to close the double gates to the outside.

Nublar: Cassie stood there in stunned silence while Serena couldn't even get her thought processes to start working. Without a rational explanation, she simply went with the only idea she could think of.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she said annoyed. "I followed the doors you opened but this isn't the bathroom!"

Tim was taken aback by that response. "W-what?" he said astounded. "But that's not-."

Samantha chuckled into her hand at hearing the conversation despite trying not to find it amusing.

"Oh, Tim, it could've happened to any of us under the circumstances. So what do you need to talk to me about?" the Board member asked instead.

"We've got problems back on Site B," he said as simply as he could without revealing more to those around them. Samantha immediately turned all business at that.

"Is this part of the reports on the energy cycling?" she asked. Tim nodded his head.

"Let's go," she agreed pointing to the door and then turned to Cassie. "You come with us and you keep doing what you were doing," she ordered of Serena. Serena silently and quickly nodded her head and continued packing the equipment as a speechless Cassie followed Tim and Samantha out of the room.

Gallimimus Gulley, Nublar: "Is this going to take much longer because we have things to do," said the leader of the reclamation team a little peeved that he had to sit around while two scientists worked on one of the dinosaur corpses.

"Then go do it," said Jake not really caring as he drew a blood sample from the body and then capped the syringe and unscrewed the needle. "We'll deal with this when we're done with it."

"I would but somehow I don't think the higher ups would approve of us leaving you two out here with a T-Rex and whatever else is running loose," the leader figured as his radio crackled to life. "This is Team Seven here."

"Team Seven where are you, you should've been at Grid A-12 by now," said the voice into it.

"Yes sir, but we've been delayed by two InGen scientists," said the leader before turning to look at the two. "Sorry, I didn't catch your names."

"I'm Henry Wu," said Jake Whitacre.

"And I'm Jake Whitacre," said Henry Wu as both silently chuckled to each other. The Leader gave them a dubious look before holding up the radio.

"Their names are Whitacre and Wu and they insist on carving up one of the dinosaur bodies," the leader continued as Henry took his surgical knife and split open the belly of the beast and blood, guts, and everything else onto the ground.

"Well leave them and move on because we're assigning a new team to watch over them until they're done," said the voice on the other end.

"Yes sir," said the leader pleased as they put the radio away. "Alright light 'em up; we're out of here."

A pair of workers in reflective fire protective gear appeared wielding a pair of flame throwers lit the pile of corpses on fire and smoke billowed up into the sunny and clear day.

"Later," said the leader as he and his team headed for their vehicles and soon were gone from sight. Jake and Henry watched them go before looking at their life's work currently up in flames and also being dissected at their hands.

"I suppose there's a message in here somewhere," Henry figured aloud. Jake nodded his head.

"Too bad we don't know what it is or have the time to find out," he pointed out and then returned his blood soaked gloves to the corpse. "What's the sex?"

Henry looked at his readings. "Female," he stated with a sigh of relief. "At least one thing has gone right today."

"Course we haven't found out if any of the eggs are fertilized yet," Jake had to mention as he thrust his hand deep into the innards of the dinosaur. "I wish Gerry were here, this sort of stuff is more his area than mine."

Henry was collecting skin and saliva samples of the dinosaur. "Yeah but we both agreed that it was better off leaving him in the dark about these things."

"I just hope he doesn't decide to force the issue and demand to know what's going on…or at least try and find out for himself," Jake feared as Henry nodded his head in agreement. The sounds of a motor were heard and the group turned to watch a Humvee slow to a halt and a team of armed workers emerged and headed over towards them.

"It never rains but it pours," Henry commented under his breath hoping they'd be left alone for the dissection. As soon as he said that, the sound of guns being cocked was heard.

"You have five minutes," said the second in command of the outfit. Jake and Henry looked at the man confused.

"Until what?" asked Henry at a loss.

"Until we dispose of that body like with the rest," said the second in command as the leader of the group nodded his head but otherwise said nothing. Jake instantly stood up at that as Henry did the same.

"If this is about your stupid schedule, you don't need to be here for this," he repeated angrily as he had to the previous team.

"And if it's about making sure the body is disposed, we'll do it," Henry also told the group. "We don't gain anything by seeing that it rots on this island."

"Five minutes," said the second in command once more, clearly unmoved by their statements. Jake rolled his eyes and nearly pinched his nose with his hand but realized it was still covered in gallimimus blood.

"Let's just get those eggs and be done with it," he grumbled finally, not really feeling up to the task of arguing with the workers. But as soon as he said that, all the workers stiffened.

"Now what?" demanded Henry peeved.

"No eggs!" the second in command stated angrily.

Field Clinic, Sorna: Bobbie Carter was sitting in the receptionists chair and typing away on her computer as the workers began herding everyone into the central surgery area which was the most heavily fortified room of the building.

"Okay, now go through submenu and then access the security doors setting," said Sheila over the radio.

"Got it," Bobbie told her. "Activate all doors?"

"Yeah," Sheila confirmed. Bobbie was given a box for her security clearance code and she typed it in and then a map of the building was shown and various graphics were seen closing indicating the door locks had been activated.

"Full closure," said Bobbie relieved that the doors were all closed and the locks all in working order. She reminded herself to thank maintenance if she go the chance.

"Good now hit the escape key and get back to the security menu," Sheila continued. "Then use the mouse to click on the windows option."

"Is the program for testing the fences still running?" Bobbie asked as she did so.

"No, it's finished. No more escapees for today," said Sheila relieved.

Bobbie got to the options she needed to and then activated it with her clearance code.

"Shit," she said when she saw the resulting readouts of the windows. "We've had a couple of burnouts."

"Where?" asked Sam cutting in. Bobbie looked at the readout.

"Couple skylights and a second story window," she reported.

"I wouldn't worry about it because-,"

ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRR

A loud velociraptor roar shattered the tense quiet in the room as everyone's head snapped up to look out the front doors.

"Move it!" shouted Bobbie immediately as the remaining workers headed for the back. The group then paused at a locked storage cabinet as she fumbled with her keys and finally opened the lock and pulled open the doors. Inside were several tranquilizer rifles that she handed them to some of the workers.

"Remember, last resort only," she reminded them forcefully as each worker nodded their heads and grabbed a box of tranquilizers and headed towards the surgical bay. After the workers were gone, she looked at the empty cabinet once more and sighed heavily before taking her keycard and swiping it in a hidden reader. An instant later a lock was heard opening and Bobbie pulled open a pair of hidden doors at the back of the cabinet to reveal several rifles with bullets resting on a shelf above them.

"I hate these things," the Doctor muttered softly to herself before pulling one of the rifles out and loading some shells into it. She then cocked the gun and closed all the cabinet doors and took one look out the front glass doors where the raptors could be seen advancing on the compound. Quickly blowing a stray strand of her off of her face, Bobbie retreated deeper into the building.

San Jose, Costa Rica: John Brown sat in the office of the Head of Fish and Game waiting for the arrival of the Cabinet Minister he was supposed to speak with. But the Minister was late and John was impatiently checking his watch for the umpteenth time wanting to get the information he needed and then get out of there.

And then a door heard opening got his attention and he stood up and saw the Minister enter into the room.

"Ah, Senor Brown, how nice to meet you again," said the Minister offering his hand. John shook it and then was gestured towards taking an empty seat as the Minister sat behind his desk. "I apologize for my lateness, but some meetings just tend to run long."

John nodded his head amicably as he reached into his briefcase for a file and then put it on the Minister's desk.

"Then I won't waste your time any more than necessary," the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive answered. "I hear you've got a rather interesting new interesting set of species turning up in your country. Well, maybe 'new' isn't the best word to put it since they were around long ago."

The Minister shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're getting at."

John leaned forward conspiratorially. "I think you do. And if you have any doubts, I'm sure that folder will answer them."

The Minister reluctantly opened it and looked at the pictures inside and finally a small map with numerous dots along the western coast.

"Now do you want to talk?" asked John pointedly as he clasped his hands in front of himself. The Minister sighed heavily and picked up his phone.

"Cancel any afternoon appointments, I'll be busy for the rest of the day," the Minister said into the receiver and then hung it up. The Minister then stared at John Brown thoughtfully.

"You realize I cannot say much given NDAs," the Minister began. John nodded his head at the mention of Non-Disclosure Agreements which forbade speaking on certain subjects.

"You also realize what you are getting yourself into by asking about this," the Minister continued. John again nodded his head.

"I don't have any choice," he revealed cryptically.

The Minister gave a saddened smile at that. "Neither did I all those years ago as a simple Deputy Minister who was tasked with finding out why a remote village in the jungle was no longer in contact with the rest of the outside world and whether it was related to the appearance of a new life form that had never been seen in our jungles before by human eyes…"

Nublar: Tim, Samantha, and Cassie reentered into the Control Room and walked past the rows of technicians still hard at work. As they got to the front of the room, Tim got up on an empty table and pulled out a whistle and blew on it getting the room's attention.

"Listen up everybody," Tim told the group. "You've all been working hard since we've gotten here and I appreciate that. But right now something's come up that I need to deal with alone in here. So you all can take a break, go to the kitchen and see what's been whipped up and then after you're done eating, an escort will take you back to the lodge. I don't know if you'll be returning for the day or not but just take some time to relax. You're all dismissed."

The technicians looked at each uncertainly before shrugging their concerns off and gathering their things and filtering towards the exit door that was opened for them by an armed guard. Cassie felt a wave of relief wash over her as she was just being brought back to the others in order to leave together. Unseen behind her, Ed James watched the two suspiciously before he too left the room. But before he left, he swept his things over a nearby printer and in a fluid motion tore off what had been printed and then continued out of the room with a now smug look on his face. Cassie then began heading towards the exit as well.

"Not you," said Tim getting off the chair and walking up to her. "You're staying here."

"But I was just-," Cassie protested anew before Tim held up his hand to silence her.

"How you wound up in the science bay I don't really care about right now," he told her bluntly. "What matters is that I've seen what you've been up to and your programming and decryption skills are clearly on a level above the average techies here."

Cassie was a little taken aback by his admission. "I'm just doing the same thing as everyone else."

"Maybe," Tim conceded with a slightly tip of his head. "But the way you're going about it makes me think you're holding back what you're really capable of. That's why I need you here, to keep manning the secondary console for right now."

"So now you trust me?" Cassie felt she had to say in genuine disbelief. "What's with you?"

"Desperate times," said Tim grimly. "If you'd please?"

"Fine," Cassie huffed as she headed over to the computer where she had already been sitting. She then pulled out her laptop computer and plugged it back in and fired it up and then started typing away.

"Sheila, we're patching in now," said Tim into his microphone. As soon as he heard that, Cassie immediately stopped typing as her blood went cold for the second time in less than a half-hour.

"Ummm, who's we?" asked Sheila confused since she wasn't patched in to view the Control Room.

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce my helper here," said Tim apologetically. "Sheila Matula, meet Cassie Alutam."

Two hearts in unison on two different islands suddenly dropped.

Gallimimus Gulley, Nublar: "What do you mean no eggs?" asked Jake. "The damn things are infertile!"

"No eggs!" the second in command ordered forcefully. "We've been ordered to immediately dispose of any we come across."

"There were no orders like that in the directives," Henry disagreed. He and Jake had read Nicole's plan during the trip over so they would know where they stood with what was going on here.

"Yes there is," the second in command insisted. "Directive 17."

Jake and Henry were baffled by that statement.

"There's no Directive 17," they both stated in unison.

"Then that's your problem," said the second in command unsympathetically. "Now step away from the carcass because your five minutes are up."

Jake's eyes took on a dangerous glint and Henry immediately noticed it.

"This isn't worth it," he whispered to his friend in an attempt to calm him down. "We'll get our answers some other way."

Jake stared at the second in command before turning his attention to the leader of the group who so far had yet to say a single word. And then his stare broke and he looked at Henry with a sideways smirk.

"Of course we will," he said agreeably and clapped his friend on the shoulder before bending down to pack up his things. "C'mon, let's go."

As Jake headed for the jeep, Henry felt even more concerned with Jake's sudden attitude shift than if he had come to blows with the team. As he followed Jake to their vehicle, the team behind them picked up the gallimimus and tossed it onto the pyre with the rest.

"Jake, Henry, where are you?" came Samantha's voice over the radio of their jeep. Jake motioned to Henry to take the radio as he went to the back of the jeep and laid the case in the back as Henry had to silently remind himself that he was still wearing the rubber gloves with dinosaur blood on them. He pulled both the gloves off and tossed them into a hazards container and then sealed it before grabbing the radio.

"What's going on, Ms. Brown?" he asked into it.

"Where are you and what are you two up to?" Samantha asked. Henry looked at the team of workers who still had their weapons at their sides making sure that the gallimimus went up in flames.

"Oh the usual, getting in trouble by just trying to do our jobs," he remarked wryly. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I need you two boys back at base, Sorna's having some 'technical difficulties'," Samantha let them know. Henry gave a knowing glance at Jake who groaned as he continued securing what was in the case.

"They never give up," he fumed. And then his expression immediately turned to dread as the blood samples began rippling in their containers at regular intervals. Jake immediately rushed through his work and then slammed the case closed and locked it.

"On our-," began Henry when Jake grabbed the radio from him.

"We're going to be delayed; something's come up," he quickly said into it. The sound of muffled thuds was now audible.

"Oh that's just great!" said Henry exasperated as he threw up his hands in defeat. The team of workers instantly began hurriedly checking and loading their weapons and then began fanning out.

"What is it?" demanded Samantha concerned. "What's going on?"

The ground was now shaking and the jeeps rocking slightly as well.

"Not much," said Jake nonchalantly as he looked down the crest of the hill they were on as a flock of birds suddenly took flight from a row of trees on the other side of the plain. "Except that we found the T-Rex."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex went racing out of the trees bearing down on them with mouth wide open and teeth glistening in the sunlight.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: "Ah, hell," said Sam over the radio about something that Bobbie and the others couldn't see since they were all huddled in the surgical bay.

"What is it?" Bobbie asked, desperately needing to know what was going on outside.

"Those raptors can jump farther than we realized," Sam told her. "They just leapt from one of the trees onto one of the fence posts and now are inside the compound."

Panic was visible on the faces of the unarmed workers as the armed workers scattered towards the doors into the bay and looked out to spot any shadows.

"Everybody get down below the window line," Bobbie ordered to the unarmed workers who scattered to do as she said. "How many crossed over?"

"Two," Sam confirmed. "The third's outside on lookout."

"And how long before our backup arrives?" asked Bobbie next a little afraid of the answer as she took out her rifle on her lap.

"Still on its way," said Sam apologetically. "They had to do a quick spot check of Deinonychosaur fences first."

"Why?" asked a voice on Sam's end that sounded like Richard Levine.

"To make sure the group hadn't eaten through them since they're too big to go over the fences," Sam explained to him. A squabble of voices broke out over that with Martin Gutierrez leading the charge, very upset by that statement.

"Get them out of here," Sam said to someone, probably Lori, as the voices then grew fainter. "Doctor Carter, we will get you your backup, I promise."

"I know; I just I wish Muldoon were here," Bobbie said wistfully. Sam nodded his head glumly, knowing that she couldn't see it.

"Things have gotten a little crazy since Jurassic Park but things will get better, I promise," Sam swore. "We won't let them win, not now not ever."

THUD THUD THUD

The Raptors were now throwing themselves against the front doors as thuds were heard. As if that wasn't bad enough, the lights were beginning to periodically dim as the Raptors took the full brunt of the electrical shocks coming from the front doors' defenses.

"I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant," Bobbie recited to herself as she fearfully clutched the rifle closer to her body while still huddling on the floor with the rest of her coworkers. The thuds continued to get louder and louder and to some it almost seemed like the whole building was shaking from the impacts.

Indigo: Daniela St. Ives sat in her office reading the plans of how the staffs of Indigo and Sorna were to be combined as she also tried to listen to radio chatter about what was going with Site B. While she was concerned for the safety of Bobbie and the others on the island, this was hardly the first time the Raptors had escaped and she doubted it would be the last.

In the meantime, she had a lot on her mind not just from the logistics involved in making the customs process go smoothly without the infrastructure but because she'd also have to be dealing with Lori, Nicole and her team to see it go smoothly. While she was good friends with Lori, working with Nicole was sometimes like pulling teeth and this wasn't something she could just assign to Nicole's team and leave it alone, she had to work face to face on the issue.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"What is it?" asked Daniela as she pressed the speak button on her intercom.

"Call from San Diego for you on Line 1," her secretary explained.

"I'll take it," Daniela confirmed as she reached for her phone.

"I think they're going to break through the doors," she heard Ed Regis say over the radio.

"Sheila, Cassie, Tim, I need options now," Samantha demanded. That statement caused Daniela to briefly pause before dialing in the retrieve call option on her phone. She didn't know a Cassie who worked for any of the islands but an old conversation she had had with Sheila came back to her mind about Sheila mentioning offhand of having a sister with that name.

"_Probably just coincidence_," Daniela figured before picking up the call. "This is Daniela St. Ives of InGen Bioengineering; how can I help you?"

"I thought you asked me to call you Daniela," said the amused voice on the other end. Daniela chuckled briefly at that as she grabbed her water and took a gulp of it.

"Hello, Kelly, how are you doing today?" asked the head of Indigo.

"Fine, just another day taking summer classes," said the teenaged voice on the other hand with just a slight hint of annoyance.

"I know how it is," Daniela sympathized. "I had to take summer classes and do other odd jobs to get scholarships and cash to pay for college. It'll all pay off someday; I promise."

"Thanks," said Kelly appreciative of Daniela's support.

"Did you get my fax?" asked Daniela next, shifting to business.

"You betcha. That's why I'm calling," Kelly confirmed as the rustle of paper was heard, apparently from the fax.

"You think you can pull it off?" asked Daniela not going into any details in case someone somewhere was recording this conversation. Sending the fax had been dangerous enough, but she needed answers to the questions that were plaguing here about the event surrounding the Jurassic Park Incident.

"Of course," said Kelly confidently. "Or I can con Arby into helping. But yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay, but if things get hot then just cut and run," Daniela advised. "I'll understand."

"No problemo boss lady!" said Kelly with enthusiasm as Daniela chuckled briefly to herself at the infectious attitude of the younger woman.

"I told you to call me Daniela," the head of Indigo said wryly. "Alright, get going. I'll see you in a week or so."

Kelly gave her goodbyes and then the line went dead. Daniela smiled one last time before her expression turned half-hearted as she once more had to return her attention to the timeline of merging the staff of the two islands.

"Shit, they're about to break through the doors!" shouted Sheila distraught. Daniela immediately stared at her radio with dread on her face before snatching it from the desk and immediately racing out of her office.

Isla Sorna, Field Clinic: The front doors of the clinic smashed open and two raptors advanced cautiously into the main lobby. The two sniffed the air for several moments before looking at each other and growling briefly before one turned their head to their compatriot still outside the fence and roared to it as well. The third raptor then made a beeline for the nearest tree line as the two in the clinic advanced farther in with claws fully extended.


	21. The Last of Her Kind

A/N: In the interests of saving space and not making this single story too long, I'm going to split it into two parts. This part will end with the deconstruction of Jurassic Park. The second part will be its own 'story' and follow the after effects on Isla Sorna. I hadn't really intended to the demolition of the park to take on a life of its own, but it was always a story thread I was interested in writing.

Nublar: A Tyrannosaurus Rex's roar was heard across the plains of Gallimimus Valley as a Jurassic Park Jeep and a military Humvee went racing over the crest of a hill with the roaring dinosaur coming after them.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded the second in command of the outfit as he leaned out of the open window of the Humvee as he watched the dinosaur pursuing them. The T-Rex was still hounding them despite the fact that it was being continually shot with darts containing enough poison to kill any living creature on Earth by the workers in the rear of the vehicle.

"Its body must be in a state of hyper locomotion," Henry said over the radio as the jeep rocked up and down from the terrain it was on. "Whatever intelligence that thing had in the past, it's a creature driven by pure instinct now."

"But what's causing it?" asked the second in command as he too was being jostled by the terrain. "We weren't told anything about this in our original briefings on these creatures' habits."

"Just like we weren't told about Directive 17," Jake grumbled under his breath from the driver's seat of his jeep as he tried to keep the vehicle steady. Henry declined to repeat that comment over the radio as he tried to work up explanations for why the Rex was acting the way it was.

And then it hit him and he groaned as if hit with a migraine. He looked over at Jake who could only afford to glance at him out of the corner of his eye as he keep looking at the path ahead and the rearview mirror showing the Rex.

"I can't believe I forgot about that whole mess with the lysine contingency back on Sorna," he said shamefully with a shake of his head. "And here it is playing out before our very eyes."

"It's been a wild few days," Jake explained nonchalantly.

"Yeah and it is only going to get wilder," his friend figured as he reached under his seat and pulled out a box with a pair of binoculars in them. He twisted around in his chair and peered at the Rex as best he could with the vehicle shaking as much as it was.

"Yeah, those eyes are bloodshot alright," Henry observed. "It is acting just like the caged animals were on Sorna."

"And just think how it'll be on Sorna once we run out of lysine and those fences fail," Jake concluded. Henry couldn't even bring himself to think about that as more and more darts slammed into the beast which showed no signs of slowing down.

"How long before we hit 32 miles an hour?" asked Henry settling back into his seat. 32 miles per hour was the fastest they'd clocked the Rex at and it couldn't maintain that speed for very long.

"Henry we've been pushing forty for the past few minutes," Jake revealed with a slight feeling of dread. Henry looked at his friend in disbelief until he looked at the speedometer and saw he was right. And then he looked back at the Rex and saw that it was gaining on them.

"Oh this just keeps getting better," the scientist remarked dismayed. And then the Rex caught up to the Humvee and slammed its head hard against it causing the vehicle to flip off its wheels and smash into the Jeep resulting in Jake losing control of the wheel and it too flipped over end over end down the crest of the hill.

Control Room, Nublar: The monitors showed the raptors advancing into the Clinic on Sorna as Samantha and the others feverously poured over blueprints of the clinic on the building to think of options for those trapped in the surgical bay.

"Anything?" asked the Board Member anxious as she paced back and forth as the images on the main screen were of the raptors searching the clinic.

"Nothing short of them leaving the surgical bay and opening fire," Tim muttered, frustrated.

"ETA for the backup team?" asked Samantha of Sam on Sorna.

"Eight minutes," he told her. "But first they'll have to deal with the raptor outside."

"And they'll be at the surgical bay long before then," said Bobbie on the radio as she continued to clutch the rifle close to her chest. Tim nodded his head and then turned his attention to Cassie who had remained silent for the past few moments. As he looked over at her, he saw she was intently focused on her computer screen. She typed in a few commands and then looked confused at her screen before typing in even more commands and looking at the results even more confused.

"Something wrong?" asked Tim resigned to the idea that they couldn't do anything about the Clinic.

"I'm not sure," Cassie began before pushing away from her console and looking over at him. "What are the E.L.E. Protocols?"

Samantha and Tim immediately stopped what they were doing and just stared at her.

"How did you come across those?" the lead programmer of Sorna demanded. Cassie looked at him surprised by his offense and then gave him a defensive look.

"You said look through the blueprints of the building and I am," she told him. "But there seems to be some hidden layer of schematics and when I try and access them, it gives me that E.L.E. warning."

Tim exchanged a glance with Samantha who turned to face the programmer.

"E.L.E. won't help us now anyway. If you run across it anymore, just ignore it and move on to things you can access," the Board Member informed her. Cassie couldn't help raising her eyebrows in surprise at that statement.

"Okay," she said unsure but nevertheless went back to her work. Tim looked at Samantha again who was rubbing her chin deep in thought before turning to him.

"Even if we could do anything with it, we couldn't begin the process without Jake and Henry," said Samantha quietly and then something dawned on her as she looked around the room. "And where are those two? They should've been here long before now!"

Tim shrugged but otherwise kept his attention glued to his monitor. He had enough to deal with at the moment without worrying about two missing scientists.

"I'm sure they'll turn up," he figured, but was secretly looking at the plans for the building and what the ELE Protocols were covering up.

"You guys know you're still on an open mike right?" asked Daniela cutting into their thoughts from Indigo. Samantha instinctively covered up her mouth before speaking with Roberta.

"Uh, Dr. Carter," she began tentatively. "How are…"

"Sorry, what's going on?" asked Roberta sounding distracted. "I was speaking with my team about what our options are since apparently limited, that we're just going to have go out there and deal with this ourselves."

"What?" shouted Samantha into the radio. "You can't do that…we'll…we'll…"

Her inability to come up with an answer told the entire story.

"She's right," said Sam solemnly on his end. "Do what you have to, we'll make this right somehow."

"I'll hold you to that," said Bobbie grimly before turning to her team. "Get the door ready; I'll be there in one moment."

As the workers she had selected grimly moved towards the door, the others in the room wished them luck. Bobbie watched the scene sadly and then took out her trusty notepad and wrote down two words: "E.L.E. Protocols" and then put the notebook back in her jacket pocket. She then looked once more over her rifle and then joined the others.

"No matter what you do, do not open any doors until Director Stone gives you the all clear over the radio," Bobbie warned the group. "I know many of you are new here, but if one of those raptors gets in here it will be a bloodbath. We haven't had any recent problems here from raptor attacks; but when this island was still in the early days of the Dinosaur Revivification Project, they got out all the time and people were either maimed or killed. I spoke with the survivors from Jurassic Park and what they went through when those things got loose and it was the same story. It's either us or them, do not forget that."

The others nodded their agreement with terrified shakes of their heads as Bobbie turned to the worker at the door and nodded her head. The double doors were unlocked and opened and the group headed out. Before the soundproof doors were shut, Bobbie distantly heard Samantha demanded that Jake and Henry be found immediately.

"Wherever those two are, I hope they're not in as much trouble as me," said Bobbie wistfully under her breath, knowing fully well it probably wasn't true.

Galimimus Valley: Two trashed vehicles lay resting upside down against one of the slopes of the valley as their wheels slowly spun in silence while wisps of engine exhaust emerged from their tailpipes and wafted up into the clear sky above. This scene continued for several moments before the side windows of the Jurassic Park jeep were heard shattering as a pair of feet emerged from each side of the vehicle. And then Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu crawled outside and then stood up dazed, bruised, and bloodied from the incident that had just occurred.

"Oh, damn it," said Jake stumbling back and forth on his feet, desperately hoping he didn't have a concussion. "Henry are..are you o-okay?"

"Been better," said his friend as he leaned against the back of the jeep and pinched his nose shut to keep it from bleeding. "What happened? All I remember is a flash of black and then the whole world starts spinning."

"I think the Rex flipped the Humvee and then…," began Jake as he began collecting his thoughts and then the part about the dinosaur hit him hard. The two immediately looked up to see the Tyrannosaurus Rex with its head hidden behind the Humvee apparently gorging on something which Jake and Henry were glad not to be able to see. But then its eye turned and noticed them and it returned to its regal height and looked down at them from above with its bloody jaws. The dinosaur and the humans stared at each other for several minutes before the Tyrannosaurus Rex let loose with a mighty roar.

"How much longer does she have?" asked Henry breathing heavily as he was hunched over trying to stay up.

"She's dead already and she knows it," said Jake with a touch of sadness in his voice. "And so do we."

The Rex's roar got weaker and weaker until its eyes rolled back in its head and it collapsed onto the ground next to them. Jake and Henry hobbled over to the thing and each placed their hands against the dinosaur's hide and felt its final heartbeats.

"SHIT!" shouted Jake frustrated as he stepped away from the beast. He tried to utter more swears but it came out as incoherent babble from his anger at the whole situation they were now in.

"I know, Jake, I know," said Henry in total agreement as he looked out with sadness at the carnage around them. "All we can do now is pick up the pieces and move on."

Jake shook his head bitterly. "Someone is responsible for this and I'll see them burn for this."

Henry sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before nodding his head. "I'm sure we will," he said wistfully before patting down his pockets. "You don't have a cigarette do you?"

Jake shook his head with a mild smirk. "Who has the time anymore? C'mon, let's see if anybody's still alive."

The two stumbled over to overturned Humvee which was further up the hill, each scientist in extreme pain from each step and each breath they took as the adrenaline from earlier began to slow down.

"I don't think I can make it," said Henry holding his ribs in pain. He then stumbled a few more steps and then collapsed to the ground. Jake made it a few more steps before the pain caught up with him too and he also collapsed. And then the wind ripped across the valley as a Sikorsky Helicopter ripped by overhead and then circled the area for landing nearby.

"Jake, Henry!" shouted Jennifer as she hopped out of the helicopter and ran towards them before pausing briefly at sight of the T-Rex before continuing on when seeing it wasn't moving.

"C'mon you two, you can't die on me!" shouted Jennifer as she tried to get them to acknowledge her presence. "You know I'm the one who is going to end up killing you both for talking badly about my flying!"

The two scientists didn't make any responses to her statements and that worried the female pilot more than ever and she went over to Jake and hoisted him up by the collar.

"**I know you have something sarcastic to say**," she declared darkly. Jake's closed eyelids seemed to shift as though the eyes they covered were coming to life.

"I was in more pain being bucked around inside your helicopter earlier," Jake wheezed out as nearby Henry laughed while wincing each time from the pain that caused. Jennifer made a move to slap the scientist when a smile broke out on her face and she hugged him tightly.

"I still hate you; but it's good you two are still alive," she confessed as she headed over to check on Henry. Engine roars could be heard as various vehicles went racing over the hills towards them.

"Jennifer," Henry rasped as he looked up at the female pilot. "I need you to do us a favor before they get here."

"What?" asked the female pilot bewildered about what they could possibly want.

"In the back of our jeep is a metal case, go get it," said Henry, each word he spoke being more painful than the last so he had to pass on niceties. Jennifer ran over to the back of the jeep and unzipped the canvas covering and pulled out a metal case that had a few dents and scratches on it.

"Open it," Henry asked next. Jennifer popped it open and saw the vials of blood.

"I'm surprised they're still intact after that crash," she admitted. "So what do you need me to do?"

"There's an empty syringe do you see it?" asked Henry forcing out each word.

"Yes," she said picking it up. "Do you need me to take a blood sample from you? I do have basic medical training."

"No," said Henry shaking his head. "I need you to draw a sample from the Rex."

"ARE YOU NUTS?" shouted Jennifer at them. Henry shook his head as much as he could.

"She's already dead but we need that sample," he insisted. "She's the first dinosaur we ever made and we have to have a blood sample for comparison."

"Comparison for what?" said Jennifer doubtful and confused.

"Just…take…it," Jake pleaded and then he and Henry both slumped back into unconsciousness not knowing if she'd taken the sample or not as the sounds of vehicles slamming on their brakes was heard nearby.

InGen Headquarters, San Diego California: Peter Ludlow sat with the other board members sans Samantha Brown as they listened to the radio chatter coming from the islands while viewing a distorted video feed of the events.

"Yes, I've got that," confirmed Daniel Ross of InGen's Legal Counsel before hanging up the phone. "They've found Whitacre and Wu. Apparently they and an InGen team encountered the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The animal is now dead but some of the InGen team was killed in the process. Whitacre and Wu are in stable condition but they'll be out for a little bit."

Ludlow nodded his head digesting this new information. Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were hardly his favorite people in the world but he had no desire to see anything bad happen to them. InGen's future in some ways depended on them…for now.

"Do we have anything yet on that programmer who is with them, that…Cassandra?" asked one of the other board members looking at their notes.

"She's unimportant," responded Ludlow dismissively. "We have bigger issues to worry about both what's going on here right now at that clinic and about what the Costa Rican Cabinet Minister had to say about his meeting with John Brown."

"Do you think he intends to expose our operations by revealing the A-1 incidents?" asked another board member fearful. Ludlow shook his head at that suggestion.

"He wants control of this company there can be no doubt about that," the COO conceded. "But exposure of our assets on Sorna and Nublar would bring increased scrutiny from the US government and the public at large and that wouldn't advance his goals."

"And what of Biosyn?" asked the same board member. "I have a hard time believing they're just sitting around while all of this is going on."

"And they're not," said Ludlow knowingly. "But their CEO unofficially let me know that they've disavowed Lewis Dodgson's actions. That means Dodgson's likely more determined than ever to get those samples to save face but he won't have Biosyn's resources to do it."

The board members nodded their heads at that as they once more listened in to what was going on in the clinic.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Bobbie and her workers cautiously moved down hallway after hallway looking for the two raptors.

"Where are they? We should've seen them by now," said one worker nervously.

"They're drawing us further away from the safety of the surgical bay," Bobbie remarked. "These bastards are smart, don't forget that."

The group continued further on.

"You sure splitting up is a bad idea? We might catch them sooner," said another worker.

"Not all of us are going to make it back alive as it is. If we split up, we're not going to make it that much sooner," said another worker as if that should be obvious.

"Hush!" Bobbie hissed as the group immediately fell silent.

CLACK CLACK CLACK

The sound of something repeatedly hitting the tile floor caused the team to immediately tense up. Bobbie was the only one with basic DRT knowledge about the various known tactics of the predatory dinosaurs and she had told this group that the raptors hit the long claw on their feet as some form of radar to seek out prey.

Bobbie made some motions to the group to stick close to the walls as Bobbie tried to remember what was ahead of them.

"The hallway around the corner has doors on either side to examination rooms," Bobbie began. "But otherwise those damn things have got nowhere to go or hide unless they run away."

The others nodded and slowly advanced on the corner as Bobbie pulled out her compact mirror and edged up to the corner where the wall met. The resident MD was secretly grateful that in order to save power, most of the lights in the place weren't turned on during the day which could possibly reflect off her mirror and tip off the raptors that they were onto them.

"Okay, I've got it," Bobbie told her team as she looked at the mirror which showed a raptor down the hallway. "Looks to be by itself so we'll take it now and then find the other one. Remember that we can't just fire wildly; we have to aim at the thing. We'll go on three."

The team nodded their heads as they readied their tranquilizers and tasers.

"One, two, THREE!" shouted Roberta as the team raced around the corner and the team fired on the dinosaur. The raptor barely had time to register what happened before numerous darts smacked right into it and it immediately collapsed to the ground.

"We got you, you son of a bitch," said Bobbie softly as the team breathed a giant sigh of relief as they slowly advanced on the downed raptor that was now foaming at the mouth. The team was softly congratulating themselves on the kill when a doorknob was heard twisting behind them and then opening. The team immediately spun around as a second Velociraptor emerged from one of the examination rooms with its claw on the inner door handle.

It paused for a moment and then it roared angrily and charged at them…


	22. Hints of Things to Come

Control Room, Isla Sorna: "Shit, shit, SHIT!" shouted Sam as the video monitors from the clinic showed the raptor emerging from the doorway behind the team. The team opened fire but it was in too close proximity to them and immediately took down one of the team members and then another as the rest turned and fled with the dinosaur in pursuit. They passed underneath the camera that was positioned in the lobby and then were out of sight

"How did we miss that thing go in there?" demanded Sam angrily of Sheila.

"I didn't know it could do that!" the female programmer insisted in shock. "And I didn't even see it go down that hallway. One sweep of the cameras and it was there and the next it wasn't! I didn't see it down the hall so I figured it went the other way."

"It's not her fault, Sam," said Samantha on the radio. "The CCTV system on your island is junk anyway for anything not having to do with the dinosaur revivification project. But we have to do something now because they're going to be dead in the next few minutes if we don't…oh my God!"

She had just noticed on the monitors showing the lobby that Jake, Henry, and the rest of the team they had encountered being brought in on stretchers.

"I don't think we can worry about that right now," Tim reluctantly pointed out. Samantha turned to him.

"There's a terminal in the main lobby, right?" she asked quickly. Tim nodded his head.

"There's an informational booth by the far wall; what of it?" he confirmed as his look became puzzled.

"Get it on the network right now," ordered Samantha as she grabbed the microphone on the desk. "Peter?"

"Yes, we're here," Peter Ludlow confirmed on the other end.

"Under Executive Mandate 934 I am hereby initiating Stage 1 of the E.L.E. Protocols," Samantha let her boss know.

"Confined to this specific incident?" asked Ludlow for clarification.

"At this time, yes," confirmed Samantha.

"No other alternatives?" asked Ludlow again. He knew precious time was being wasted but E.L.E. was not something to be taken lightly.

"Our team has finally gotten to the compound and darted the raptor outside but then the damn thing threw itself against the fence overloading it and now we've got to cut power to the whole thing in order to pry its corpse off the gate before we can get inside," said Sam frustrated. "These bastards had this whole operation planned from the start."

"Then you have my approval," said Ludlow after hearing that. Samantha immediately ran from the room as Tim sighed and then worked on getting the terminal switched over to the network.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Bobbie and the remaining workers continued fleeing down the hallway as the raptor pursued them at every turn. One by one the workers fell to the creature's claws until it was down by to Bobbie and the worker from earlier whom she had spoken with at the fence gates.

"I…never…got…your…name," Bobbie huffed out of breath as the two rounded a corner and the raptor was going too fast and slammed right into the far wall.

"It's Tom," the worker told her as he slammed in a new cartridge of darts. "Tom Eniot."

"Nice to meet you, Tom," said Bobbie trying to sound cordial despite their situation. "I hate to break this to you, but we've only got two more hallways and then we're out of space to run."

"Last stand," Tom figured knowingly. "Better make it count."

Bobbie cradled her rifle in her hands and shook her head.

"I won't let them take any more lives," she swore to herself and continued running.

Visitors Center, Isla Nublar: "You want me to what?" said the field doctor in disbelief at what the InGen Board member had informed him to do. He was hovering over the still bodies of Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu who were resting on makeshift stretchers in the lobby along with the survivors of the other Jurassic Park Deconstruction Team.

"Wake them up," said Samantha fiercely. "I don't have time to debate this because lives are at stake."

"_Their_ lives will be at stake if they don't rest!" said the doctor not backing down. "They should be heavily sedated with morphine not pumped full of adrenaline."

"Wake them now or I'll-," began Samantha when a hand clasped her wrist and she visibly jumped.

"Will you two keep it quiet I'm trying to sleep here," said Jake's dry and scratchy voice as his hand grasped Samantha's wrist which he had managed even with his eyes closed. Nearby Henry shifted as well to face them.

"What's so important?" he rasped out curiously. Samantha sighed at what she was about to say.

"They were cycling the power on the fences on Sorna when the raptors got loose and now they're in the field clinic. Dr. Carter went out to confront them with a team and now they're going to die if we don't do a localized activation of Stage 1 of the E.L.E. Protocols," she quickly said, bringing them up to speed. Without even a momentary hesitation, Jake and Henry both struggled to get up and in severe pain managed to sit up right as both clutched their sides in anguish.

"Give them a small dose of adrenaline," Samantha ordered of the doctor who reluctantly prepared the necessary injections and then quickly gave it to both the scientists. After a quick moment the two found themselves getting to their feet as if in no pain at all and followed Samantha to the nearby wall terminal.

"Sam, how's it going over there?" Samantha needed to know.

"Not good. It's down to Bobbie and one other worker and they've got thirty seconds before they're out of running room," Sam said concerned.

"Tim?" asked Samantha next.

"Ready to go," the programmer confirmed. The screen on the monitor in front of the trio switched from showing a tour map of the Visitors Center to the operating system that the InGen systems ran on. Samantha's fingers flew across the keyboard as she quickly accessed Sorna's mainframe that was now only possible because of the earlier linkup between the two islands for which she gave silent thanks. She then accessed the Site B building listings directory and found the field clinic. Punching the appropriate option, she was now viewing a top down layout of the entire building.

"It's your turn now. I just hope you haven't gotten rusty over how this works," said Samantha stepping back. Jake forced himself to move again as some pain still came through despite the injection and he brought up the command prompt menu. Shaking his head briefly to clear his murky vision he typed in a series of commands before stepping aside and having Henry type in a few more. After a few quick moments of this, a new dialogue box displayed reading: WARNING: E.L.E. PROTOCOLS STAGE 1 IS ABOUT TO BE ACTIVATED. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED? Y/N.

Jake hit the 'Y' button and then a box showed up for three usernames and passwords. Jake typed in his username and password and Henry typed in his as Samantha briefly wondered who the third username and password box was for. But apparently two entries were all that was required at this point in the game as the next dialogue box read: E.L.E. STAGE 1 PROTOCOLS ONLINE.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Bobbie and Tim slid to a halt at the end of the hallway and quickly turned to face the raptor that was just about to leap on them. But before either side could make a move, a series of electronic alarms began sounding off as the lights came on in the building and began blinking in succession to the alarms.

"Attention, Attention," said an orderly pre-recorded voice over the loudspeakers. "E.L.E. Protocols Stage 1 is now in effect for this location. Please follow the instructions from headquarters on how to proceed without causing harm to yourself and others. I repeat; E.L.E. Protocols Stage 1 is now in effect for this location…"

The trio could only look around confused at this new addition to their desperate situation.

Nublar: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu slumped down against the wall next to the terminal again in pain as Samantha tried to make sense of what she was seeing on the top down floor image of the Field Clinic.

"This…this…," she said at a complete loss and what she was looking at. "I mean I knew about E.L.E. and all it covered but this…wow… How did Hammond let you get away with this?"

"It was that or no more dinosaurs," Jake rasped as he coughed hoarsely and was grateful that no blood came out. "Where are they now?"

"At the end of Hallway 9," said Sam after Samantha asked him that same question over the radio. "It's now or never."

"Choose the appropriate response measure and then the right point location option and hit execute," said Henry giving Samantha further instructions. "And then log off right away."

Samantha found the right options and then her finger hovered over the enter key and she turned once more to the two scientists.

"I won't let it come to this," she swore. Jake and Henry turned to look at her with saddened expressions.

"That's what Hammond said," Jake began.

"And here we are," Henry concluded. Samantha looked up at the screen with new resolve and hit the enter button.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: All three beings in the hallway realized at the same time that they alarms were apparently just distractions. Bobbie and Tom lifted their weapons at the raptor as it reared back on its legs and leapt at them.

…And then everything went to white.

Time passed.

Evening, Visitors Center, Isla Nublar: Cassandra had long been excused from the Control Room to go back the Lodge as Samantha sat at Dennis Nedry's former console in a conference call with the Board of Directors in San Diego, Daniela St. Ives on Indigo, and Sam Stone on Sorna.

"You saved Dr. Carter's life and that other worker; I think that is what matters right now," said Peter Ludlow trying to sound conciliatory as his image showed him looking through his reports. "And from the looks of things Whitacre and Wu will only be out of action for a few weeks. That should be enough time to finish demolishing Jurassic Park without having their continued interference."

Samantha considered that statement as she sipped her coffee before thinking up a reply.

"Sam, how long before you can repair the damage at the clinic?" asked Samantha instead of voicing her thoughts aloud.

"Shouldn't take more than week," the Head of Sorna replied. "Replacing and rewiring the charge back into the network might take a little bit longer but we can do that when the clinic is closed at nights."

"I trust we can convince Dr. Carter to not pursue any questions regarding what happened?" asked Ludlow concerned.

"She was knocked unconscious by what happened along with the other worker. I think we can convince her that she doesn't remember what really happened…if she does at all," said Ed Regis who had just walked into the Control Room having finished up making sure everyone was locked down for the night back at the lodge.

"Good, that's one less mystery that needs to be solved," said Ludlow pleased. Samantha eyed his image on the computer monitor curiously.

"There are others?" she asked confused. Ludlow waved off her concerns.

"There always are," he said disarmingly before becoming concerned. "Like what Whitacre and Wu were doing in the field for so long."

"Tests, probably," said Samantha not sure what her boss was so concerned about the two scientists. She was also curious to know what the two had been up to but it hadn't weighed heavily in her mind…until now that Ludlow expressed his concerns about it.

"Yes, I'm sure you're right," said the InGen COO apparently brightening up at that…or else faking it; and then he added softly. "Hopefully this little lesson will teach them the value of when to quit."

Samantha had to barely avoid snapping at him for that comment. Bruised and battered the two had endured long enough to save Roberta Carter and everyone else in that clinic.

"I have to know, though," began Daniela St. Ives tentatively. "Is that what E.L.E. is? I know the basics of the project but not the specifics."

Ludlow look at the image of Samantha confused. "You didn't go over the details with her yet?"

Samantha had to avoid squirming at being called out by her boss. "Things have been a little crazy here but it will be done before I return to San Diego. But to answer your question, what you saw doesn't even scratch the surface. Project E.L.E. is a last resort and if it had really gone into effect, you'd know."

"Which this is not the time to be going into the details," said Ludlow cutting into their conversation. Samantha paused and ultimately nodded her head in agreement. To properly discuss E.L.E. would take more time than they had at the moment.

"But I will say this," began Samantha as she stared intently at her boss. "I won't let the situation on Site B reach the point where E.L.E. will have to be implemented."

"None of us will," said Ludlow trying to reassure her before turning serious. "But that brings me to perhaps the most important part of this meeting. We need Unit Designate 00000 recovered at all costs."

Unit Designates referred to materials being recovered or disposed of in Jurassic Park. Samantha didn't even need to look up what that particular designates referred to as it was the most important piece of the puzzle of the Jurassic Park Incident. It referred to the device Dennis Nedry used to try and smuggle the fifteen dinosaur embryos off of the island. And it was completely off the records for what the various recovery teams were looking for. Samantha and Ed Regis were the only ones on the island who knew of its existence.

"We're slowing closing in on the area where Nedry's jeep is," said Samantha reading her notes of the progress of the Jurassic Park Recovery Teams. "But it'll be slowing going once we reach the Dilophosaurus Territory. They're now the premiere carnivores on this island and they're heavily rooted in the jungles on the eastern side of the island. It won't be easy getting that canister back."

"No, it won't. Not when agents from our competition may be involved," Ludlow finally revealed. Samantha was startled by that open confession about something everyone suspected.

"Biosyn?" she had to ask. Nedry's connections with that organization had still yet to be proven, but it stood to reason they were why he had stolen the dinosaur embryos in the first place.

"Them…and maybe others," said Ludlow mysteriously as he yawned into his hand. "Sorry, it is a little late. Guess we should all be heading off to warm beds."

Samantha nodded her head and yawned as well while wondering what other companies might want what InGen had. One other than Biosyn immediately sprung to mind but she hoped she was wrong on that end. And so she put that line of thinking aside before typing a couple of commands on Nedry's terminal and brought up an image on the main viewscreen of the part of island highlighting various incidents the Jurassic Park Recovery Teams had had with the dilophosaurs.

"Peter, before you go I have one question to ask," asked Samantha looking over at the monitor of the Board. Peter Ludlow nodded his head for her continue.

"Is John Hammond going to return to the fold anytime soon?" she had to know. Ludlow sat back down at that statement.

"I wish I knew," he confessed with just a hint of sadness. "I wish I knew."

The monitor went dark and Samantha immediately powered everything down before looking at Ed Regis who was standing there silently.

"What do you think?" she asked helplessly of InGen's Head of Public Relations. Ed shrugged.

"I don't think Hammond's coming back to run this company anytime soon," he offered. "As for rival companies infiltrating our little shindig here, I'd say absolutely because they'd be crazy not to."

"Terrific," said Samantha annoyed while rolling her eyes. She got up and collected her things and headed for the exit.

"And one more thing," Ed began cautiously as he stopped near the exit. "I don't know all the details about Project E.L.E. and honestly, what little I do know I wish I didn't. But I do know this. If word ever got out to the public at large about the dinosaurs on these islands before some version of Jurassic Park is launched, that might be a PR disaster…but it could be smoothed over. But if E.L.E. ever got implemented and the world found out, there'd be no way to explain it…absolutely none."

"So what are you saying?" asked Samantha confused. Ed Regis sighed heavily.

"No choice, cover up," was all Ed said in response to her question as a pair of guards waiting outside the Control Room then accompanied them on their way back to the lodge and no more words were shared between the two on the matter.

Night fell on Islas Nublar, Indigo, and Sorna.

Lodge, Isla Nublar: Jeff, Serena, Lorne, Chip, and Cassie were in one of the many rooms of the building eating their dinner together.

"So Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu didn't know about Directive 17; that's very interesting," agreed Jeff with Chip's previous statement. Chip had been the one in charge of the Dinosaur Team the two scientists had encountered in Galimimus Valley although his second in command had been doing the talking for the group.

"Sorry, what is Directive 17?" asked Serena at a loss as she shoveled down some noodles with her chopsticks.

"Any and all dinosaur eggs discovered on the island are to be immediately destroyed," Lorne recalled. That caused Serena's eyes to widen.

"These things are breeding?" she said, slightly disturbed by that idea for some reason.

"No," said Jeff amused at her reaction. "Well, maybe, I don't know. But eggs are just a natural biological process. It doesn't really mean anything unless any of them are hatched."

"And if I remember the briefings, all the dinosaurs are female on this island," said Lorne. "So why hide this from the InGen's two main scientists?"

"Another mystery," Jeff conceded as he wrote down notes on their conversations. "Good thing this is all for the boss to figure out because we're just here for intelligence gathering. None of these makes much sense to me."

The others nodded before Serena turned to Cassie.

"You've been quiet so far, anything to report?" the scientist asked of her coworker. Cassie looked up at her from a previously distant state and tried to organize her thoughts.

"Does E.L.E. mean anything to any of you?" she finally asked. The others in the room all turned to look at her before each shook their heads.

"I don't think John ever mentioned it," Jeff said in response. Cassie nodded her head.

"And I'm not surprised if he doesn't even know about it," she figured. "Because whatever it is, it is a heavily guarded secret that InGen doesn't want anybody to know about who is not required to."

"How did you come across it?" asked Jeff making sure he wrote down all the details.

"There was an incident on the other island I mentioned earlier and they needed E.L.E. to fix it," the female programmer answered. "Stage 1 was briefly activated but that's really all I know. I don't even know what Stage 1 entailed, it was that classified."

Jeff nodded his head and then yawned into his hand. "I'm sure the boss will be able to figure it out. And with that I'd say that it's time to call it a night."

The others nodded and slowly filed out of the Jeff's room when Cassie lingered by the doorway.

"Out with it," ordered the head of the group knowing she was debating whether to say something.

"I think we're in over our heads this time," the female programmer admitted. Jeff snorted at that.

"When are we not?" the leader asked slightly annoyed at her bringing up the obvious.

"But it's more than that," Cassie continued despite her boss's reaction. "And I'm not talking about dinosaurs being involved because that _is_ a first. Something else is going on here, some bigger picture that we can't see yet. And if we're going to figure out what it is, it's up to the five of us to solve it out without any outside help."

Jeff shot her a look at that which Cassie met with her own, refusing to back down.

"But that's just one person's advice," she said a little meekly and then turned to leave.

"But why are you so concerned?" Jeff had to know. "We've been in situations like this before and you never batted an eye at what was going on."

"I know," Cassie admitted with a nod of her head. "But…I won't let me sister die. Not if I can stop it."

Jeff's eyes widened slightly at that admission as Cassie then left the room behind leaving him alone.

Nearby room: Howard King and Ed James were in a room reading through the documents that Ed had printed off in the Control Room and secretly snuck out of there.

"This is good stuff," King admitted, pleased. "Now that we know that Cassandra is trying to find out Nedry's connections with Biosyn, it makes her a Pacific Pharmaceuticals infiltrator."

"But she could be from some other rival organization," James pointed out. King shook his head at that.

"None that would have a programmer of her caliber working infiltration in the field," he reasoned. "This has John Brown written all over it."

"Okay," said James not entirely convinced but he wasn't the one in charge of their mission for Lew Dodgson. "Then we now need to identify whoever else came with her."

"Absolutely and I have some names I'd like to run across you. I think Jeff Thomas is probably one of them since he hangs around that programmer so much," began King. Ed thought about that for a few moments before nodding his head.

"He'd have the background experience necessary to be second in command of this whole operation," the programmer agreed. "And I have one too, her name's Serena but I'm not sure about her last name. She works down in the science bay."

"I don't know her either but I'll be sure to find out," King said writing down his notes. "Why her?"

"Because that programmer snuck out of the Control Room and was found with that scientist in the bay," said James, pleased that he'd figured that out when no one else in InGen had.

"Makes sense," said King writing down more notes. "Well we've got two at least. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any at the moment."

James nodded and yawned into his hand. "So what's the next step? When does Operation: Embryo go into effect?"

"Soon, very soon," said Regis putting away his notes. "It's not going to be easy to pull off but we both know how important it is. The boss won't be happy if we fail."

Both knew full well the wrath of Lewis Dodgson could be immense to anyone who didn't perform up to his strict set of high standards. That he hadn't flown off the handle when Dennis Nedry had failed to get the embryos to him had been a surprise to the two subordinates. They could only reason that because Nedry had gotten himself killed in the process and the resulting chaos he caused resulted in the end of the InGen's Jurassic Park facility was a measure of satisfaction to the Biosyn executive.

Either way, the two had an important task to perform on this island and they would only have one chance to succeed.

Site B, Lodge: Doc Thorne was up late at night in the darkened central living room that connected to his, Richard Levine's, and Marty Gutierrez's suites. The whole area had been intended for use by InGen VIPs but since few visited the island, the three had gotten it for themselves. But none of that mattered to Thorne as he poured over data from the computer screen in front of him.

After several moments of considering what the data was telling him, he sighed heavily and leaned back in his posh chair and rubbed his eyes thoroughly.

"It's not right is it?" asked Marty Gutierrez walking up to him with a steaming cup of tea and nodding at the computer screen.

"No, it isn't," the engineer confirmed as he turned to look up at his companion. "I suppose that terrifies you."

Marty simply shrugged at that statement. "On the contrary I'm relieved. Now I know something is wrong rather than just worried that something _might_ be wrong."

"Makes sense," said Thorne nodding his head and then he sighed heavily while continuing to look at the computer.

"I suppose telling them what we've found would be a waste of time," Marty figured. Thorne nodded his head.

"Only if we're able to conclusively prove it. Otherwise they'll either deny it or come up with some excuse for why it is the way it is," he stated knowingly. Gutierrez nodded his head as well.

"Then we have a lot of work ahead of us," the Central American scientist agreed as he clapped Thorne on the shoulder and then finished his tea and retreated to his own room. Thorne continued to look at the monitor and then finally shut the whole computer off and left for his own room as well.

From the shadows, Richard Levine emerged and silently walked over to the computer and stared down at the black screen.

"I know why the numbers are wrong," he revealed softly to the emptiness of the room and then he retreated to his room.

San Diego, California: John Hammond was alone in his study sitting in silence as thoughts of various things passed through his head so much that he couldn't sleep. The implications of what had happened on Jurassic Park and how helpless he had been to do anything to stop it continued to echo in his mind. He also couldn't shake the fact that Site B was still out there, an island of workers surrounded by dinosaurs running low on power and here he was being just as helpless to do anything about it.

All he could do was sit at his computer and look at whatever information was available on the InGen mainframes about what the company was up to under the direction of his nephew. Limited information on the reclamation of Jurassic Park was in there along with various other goings on like the attempts to finish Jurassic Park: San Diego and preliminary plans for Jurassic Park: Europe and what steps were necessary to ensure both and hide the existence of the original Jurassic Park.

It all seemed to be on autopilot and didn't require his involvement…but then something caught his eye and he sat in stunned silence as he read what it told him.

Project E.L.E. Stage 1 Protocols Activated 6/29/93 17:05:15.

Project E.L.E. Stage 1 Protocols Deactivated 6/29/93 17:10:26.

That caused the CEO of InGen to nearly choke on the sandwich he had been eating. His computer access codes allowed him access to information that wasn't publicly available to others and these messages were part of that. While the information on what E.L.E. contained was not available on any computer wired to the company's intranet, information on its activation was immediately sent to all members of the Board of Directors and himself. Unfortunately, that meant information was low on the details as what was seen in the two lines above was all there was without contacting the Site B itself.

"What is happening to my company…," wondered Hammond out loud, breaking his own reverie about what was on the screen in front of him. Clearly whatever had happened to cause E.L.E. to be activated was nothing life threatening because five minutes didn't allow for much to occur.

But it had occurred and that spoke volumes. Clearly the situation on Isla Sorna was deteriorating more rapidly than he'd realized now that Jurassic Park was no more.

And Hammond would be damned if he'd continue staying as helpless as he was. He'd made mistakes before with Jurassic Park, he realized that now. But with Sorna he had a chance to rectify that. The dinosaurs deserved a second chance at life, he knew that, but he had to carefully balance that desire with those of every living being on Site B. It wouldn't be an easy task, but one he knew he had to try to accomplish.

But he would have to be subtle in his approach. If he stepped in now, he knew his nephew would be just as resistant as he had in their previous discussion several days ago. He just needed to bide his time, consider his opportunities, and then take advantage of them when the time came. He had built InGen from the ground up and nobody knew the company better than he did.

Site B was on the verge of becoming a Lost World, it was only a matter of time and he had to stop it from happening.


	23. Sisters

A/N: The story should start picking up from here until the end of Pt. I.

Next Day, UCLA Berkley: Sarah Harding yawned heavily into her hand having spent countless hours at the business library researching InGen and its corporate assets. Armed with only a cryptic clue about Mano De Dios from an even more cryptic individual, she was about at wits end.

"I know the answer is in here somewhere," she complained bitterly.

"Having problems?" asked a librarian who was walking past her. Sarah sighed and leaned back in her chair, pushing the books away.

"You might say that," she reluctantly admitted and then tried to come up for a reason why she had all the InGen books on her table. "I'm doing a report on John Hammond and I was wondering if this was all we had on his latest venture."

The librarian looked at all the books on the table and then at her.

"I take it you consulted the card catalog?" the librarian asked. Sarah nodded her head.

"I have the paper cuts to prove it," she remarked a little sarcastically. The librarian nodded their head at the thousandth time they'd heard that statement.

"Well have you consulted our digital resources?" the librarian asked next. Sarah looked at the librarian bewildered by that statement.

"Your what?" she asked. The librarian motioned for her to follow him. They walked past several bookshelves filled to nearly the ceiling before arriving at a group of computers.

"We have a number of collections of information on CD-ROMs called databases that contain information that sometimes isn't published," the librarian said leading Sarah to a particular computer that wasn't being used.

"This station has access to our business listings databases," the librarian informed her before grabbing a small device nearby attached to the computer with a single button on it. "Do you know how a computer mouse works?"

Sarah gave the librarian a dim look. "Yes, I know how a mouse works," she said a tone that was on the verge of snapping at him.

"Good enough," said the librarian pleased. "If you have any questions just let us know."

Sarah watched the person go before turning her attention to the computer in front of her. She saw the options before her and then found the database entries for InGen: BioEngineering and clicked it. Instantly a new series of information appeared on the screen.

InGen BioEngineering, Inc. Est: 1983. Company Slogan: 'We Make Your Future'. CEO and Founder: John Hammond. COO: Peter Ludlow. Head Scientist: Gustavius Graves. Lead Scientists: Henry Wu, Jake Whitacre…the information rolled on down off the screen. Sarah stared at it, most if it was stuff she already knew, although that InGen continued to emphasize its scientists made her wonder what sort of bio-engineering InGen was up to. And so she continued scrolling through the information looking for anything on "Mano De Dios".

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton hopped off the bus near the building and walked off towards it.

"Remind me why I'm here again?" Arby pleaded of his female companion. "I wanted to spend time at Mobile Field Systems working with Mr. Carr!"

Kelly laughed at that. "You can waste time there any time you want. But I need your help now, while we're still allowed to go to that island."

"Yeah," said Arby initially agreeing with her. "But why do you need me specifically? I thought you said Ms. St. Ives specifically asked for your help."

"She did and I need your help to help her," said Kelly with a smile that bordered on being malevolent. Arby sighed and knew there were no way he could get out of helping Kelly once her mind was made up that he had to help her.

"Just keep walking before I start getting a headache," the young man remarked as he rubbed his forehead. Kelly smiled brightly now and seemed to almost to skip towards the entrance to InGen's Headquarters as Arby trailed behind her. He then entered the building to see the receptionist looking skeptically at Kelly who was standing by the desk.

"Whatever you're selling, we don't allow solicitors in here," said the receptionist dimly. Kelly gave a false laugh at that as if she found that comment amusing.

"Oh we're not here as solicitors," Kelly explained. "I'm Kelly Curtis and this is R.B. Benton. We're here on behalf of Daniela St. Ives."

The receptionist was a little surprised by that statement but then looked at them even more skeptically.

"Excuse me one moment," the receptionist informed her as she picked up the phone. Kelly gave the receptionist a smug look before turning to Arby.

"So we'll head for the computer lab in this place and set up shop and get to work on finding out what she needs to know," Kelly figured.

"And how long will that take?" asked Arby curious. Kelly shrugged.

"Depends on how good a programmer you are," she said with a hint of challenge to it. Arby bristled at that before turning serious.

"Oh, it's on now," he declared as Kelly lightly clapped him on the shoulder for encouragement. She then turned back to the receptionist who was ending her phone call.

"I stand corrected," the receptionist began, a little steamed as she rummaged around in one of her drawers. "Here are your guest passes. Please don't lose them as they must be returned to this desk upon leaving this building."

"Thanks," said Kelly with false cheerfulness as she accepted the badges and handed one to Arby.

"Welcome to InGen: BioEngineering where we make your future," said the receptionist in the standard greeting she had to give all visitors to the building.

"Thanks…Ms…Sandelder," said Kelly concentrating on the nameplate on the desk as she quickly walked past it. Stephanie Sandelder watched them go still suspicious before picking up her phone and dialing an extension on it.

"Sir? Your suspicion was right, the two young members of the investigation team showed up looking for information for Ms. St. Ives," said Stephanie into her phone.

"Keep a discrete eye out on them for me and report what they were doing when they leave," ordered Peter Ludlow from the other end of the line and then it went dead as he hung up the phone and returned his attention to the proceedings in front of him.

"Problems?" asked Ross curious. Ludlow shook his head.

"Just keeping track of some loose ends," the COO responded dismissively. "Please continue your report on our cash saving measures so we can keep this company afloat until a new source of funds is secured."

"Very well," said Ross not willing to push the issue as he turned to the presenter. "Continue then."

The presenter continued their presentation as Ludlow listened intently while simultaneously processing several other thoughts of what else was going on with the company.

Nublar: The deconstruction of Jurassic Park was proceeding on schedule as the teams continued to liquidate the biological assets and smaller technological assets of the island in anticipation of the arrival of the SS Venture which would have the equipment necessary to begin tearing down the larger physical assets of the island.

Inside of the Control Room, Samantha Brown was going over some of the minor details of the Sorna inspection tour with Lori Ruso.

"You can take them on a brief trip out to the pens," said Samantha confirming Lori's proposed plan. "Maybe go on a walk since we're trying to clamp down on fuel usage and the nearest pens don't have anything too deadly."

"Thanks," said Lori grateful as she'd run out of places to take them inside of the Village. "Maybe all the walking will convince Levine to not want go out into the wild too much…at least not until the tour vehicle system is fully online."

"And do you know when that will be?" asked Samantha curious.

"It'll get done when it gets done," came a voice from offscreen that was clearly Sheila's. Nearby, Cassie was silently listening in on them and she narrowly avoided laughing at hearing that.

"Alright if that's…," began Samantha when Ed Regis approached her with a clipboard. "Hey, Ed, what's up?"

"Nicolette wanted you to have this," he said cutting in and handed her the clipboard. Samantha looked puzzled as she read a series of notes on how things were proceeding on Nublar.

"What's this?" Samantha asked confused.

"Oh, is that the 'bitch' list," asked Lori amused before she realized what she'd said out loud and clamped her hands over her mouth.

"The what?" asked Samantha curious as she diverted her attention between the vidscreen and the list.

"Well, you know how we have the 'glitch' list when anything goes wrong on these islands…," began Lori lightly. "Let's just say we have an informal term around the office for reports we get when a certain someone isn't happy about how things are going."

"Oh…," said Samantha understanding completely. "Your secret's safe with me; I won't send Human Resources on you."

"Thanks," said Lori with a grin as the video image shut off. Samantha went back to glancing through the list at the various items listed on it.

"Have you read this?" the Board Member asked of the HR Director. Ed shrugged.

"Most of it," he admitted. Samantha finished looking through the list and looked up at him.

"Can of these changes be feasible?" asked Samantha bewildered. Ed shrugged.

"One or two, but none of them are really affecting the timetable," he figured. Samantha then handed the list to him.

"See what you can do. Let's go, Tim," said Samantha quickly to the lead programmer and the two headed towards the exit as Ed tried to come up with a good reason for why he couldn't be bothered to do this. In the end all he got out were a few random syllables but nothing coherent as Tim and Samantha left the room.

"Smooth move," Tim commented as the two headed out into the lobby where the dinosaur bones had been collected, the fallen banner folded, and the area generally looked as clean as it had before the Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptors had invaded the place.

"You don't become Head of HR without getting to know how most people tick," Samantha pointed out before a light malicious grin spread across her face. "Besides, he's really got no one to complain to about this besides me."

Tim shuddered at hearing that. "Jake is right, you are evil."

"No comment on that," Samantha replied as they reached Henry's office. "You sure they were here?"

"Records of card swipes don't usually lie," Tim figured. "But Nedry sure found a way around that."

Samantha swiped her card and the door lock popped open.

"Speaking of Nedry, I'll admit that my computer skills are okay and I can use Windows 3.1 as good as anyone, but is it possible whatever he did to make the security systems fail is still floating around in the system after the shutdown and restart?" Samantha asked as she walked into the darkened room. She failed to notice Tim briefly tense up at her question as he was trying to figure out that same thing.

"It's possible," said Tim trying not to lie lest Samantha figure out he was trying to find that line of code. "But you'd have to go through two millions lines of code to find it."

"So it went to the grave with Nedry," said Samantha relieved before turning on the lights in the room and noticing the still running computer with a binder sitting next to it. She sat in one of the two chairs in front of the computer as Tim took the second. The programmer then looked at the screen as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"Weird," he said leaning back in his chair having not touched anything.

"You can't figure out what they were up to?" asked Samantha. Tim shook his head.

"No, what they were doing is still running," the programmer informed her. "They're running a comparison program between two codes of DNA strands."

Samantha leaned in front of him and stared at the screen which had two vertical rows of ACGT letters rapidly passing by and directly between the two strands was an image of Mr. DNA, the cartoon character dreamed up for the Jurassic Park tour.

"If we looked at screens like these once a second for eight hours it'd take two years to look at the entire DNA strand it's that long," Tim told Samantha who gave him a dim look.

"Gee, I wonder where I heard that before," she commented annoyed. "So they're comparing the DNA strands? I didn't even realize we had a program that did that."

Tim nodded his head. "I remember Ray explained it to me during my orientation. There were issues in the early days with getting the dinosaurs to be cloned right so they came up with this program to test the blood with the master records on file on the islands. It's on all the mainframe computers."

Samantha looked around. "I don't see a vial of blood anywhere so what's it being compared with?"

"My guess would be the CD master records," said Tim grabbing the binder and cracking it open and pointing to the empty sleeve. "Henry usually has this locked up in his place back on Sorna but I guess he brought it with him to Nublar."

Samantha was even more confused now. "So you're saying they're running a comparison between the master records and the records already on file? Why would they do that?!"

Tim shrugged. "Not a clue, but I'm sure they would. You want to go ask them?"

Samantha immediately shook her head. "No. No, I won't. And neither will you. Leave everything the way it was because we were never here. How long will this report take to run? Hopefully not two years."

"No," Tim scoffed at the gross underestimation of the computing powers InGen had at its disposal. "I'd say four or five days."

Samantha closed her eyes in concentration. "Four or five days, the SS Venture will be here in three…which means we'll have torn apart most of the Visitors Center by then… Okay, nobody gets in here and this place is torn apart last. If Jake and Henry aren't back, take the results back to them and also let me know what the results are without telling them I know they were running this test."

Tim was shocked by that request. "You want me to lie to them?"

"No, I want you to omit certain details that if known would endanger company interests," said Samantha correcting him. "I'm a Board Member and I'm invoking an executive mandate on this matter."

"Shit," said Tim as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. "No, I'm sorry, I don't mean that."

"Yes you do," Samantha pointed out as she got up. "But I won't hold it against you. C'mon, let's go we still have work to do around this place."

Tim silently nodded and flipped the monitor off and then left with her out of the room.

"So what happens if Ludlow or Hammond finds out and asks me about this?" Tim had to know. Samantha waved off his concern as they left the room and shut the door behind them.

"Under an executive mandate, I'm the only one answerable for this so tell them nothing," she responded. Tim nodded his head absently and then shuffled off down the hallway wringing his hands to try and calm his nerves. Samantha watched him go and then shook her head lightly before heading off down the same hallway for the lobby. She had barely gotten to the steps leading down when Nicolette Stefrassa ambushed her.

"I trust you've read my report?" the woman asked. Samantha barely had to avoid sighing at that question.

"Yes, I looked through it and I've assigned Ed Regis to see what can be reasonably put into effect," Samantha said trying to show she wasn't being ignored.

"That's all fine and good but I'd only be more than willing to implement those changes myself," Nicolette suggested. How Samantha avoided groaning at that suggestion, she wasn't quite sure.

"I think Ed is more than capable of handling things on his own," said Samantha coolly as she started down the steps. "But I do appreciate your efforts here."

"I would hope that you would," said Nicolette with a tone of smugness in her voice. "But if that is your final call regarding my report then I will accept it for now. I do ask that you remember that during this project, time is money."

Samantha shot her a warning glance at that as Nicolette tipped her head in deference. "Very well I will go find something more useful to do. Can I just ask you one final question?"

"Go ahead," said Samantha willing to entertain her since Nicolette had apparently backed off on the earlier issue.

"How many directives are there for the demolition of this island?" asked the other woman curiously. Samantha looked at her confused.

"Sixteen, why?" asked the Board Member. Nicolette shook her head.

"No reason, just curious. I wanted to be sure there weren't, say, _seventeen_ directives in place," Nicolette prodded. Samantha shook her head.

"If there is, I don't know about it," she concluded. "Is that all?"

Nicolette gave her usual business like smile. "Thank you for your time." The blonde then headed off back up the stairs as Samantha watched her go before shrugging off Nicolette's bizarre question as her trying to make sure she knew all the facts, real or imaginary. The Board Member then headed straight for the small medical bay in search of some aspirin for the headache she could sense about to come on.

Up above on the stairs, Nicolette looked around to make sure she wasn't being watched as she then took out a report from her plastic clipboard container whose cover read: _The Sustainability of the Jurassic Park Project_ Drafted: 5/16/89 under Executive Mandate 933-4. Quickly flipping through the thick report, Nicolette came to a page with a series of actionable items on it and scrolling through the list, she found a particular line item and took out her pencil and wrote next to it: _Directive 17-Secretly eliminate all biological evidence_. She then quickly closed the report and put it back in its case as a pair of workers passed her headed to the ground floor. She then looked at the clipboard which had a piece of paper with a series of items she was in the process of investigating and immediately crossed a line through the first item.

"Shit," Nicolette said softly as if wishing she hadn't found out what she had. She then tucked her clipboard under her arm and quickly moved off.

San Diego: Sarah Harding rubbed her eyes as she stared at yet another page of data that got her no closer to discovering the answers she needed so desperately.

"There has to be another way," she pleaded silently at the computer. Her searches for InGen's connection to amber had told her more about the material than she cared to know but little on details as to why the company needed so much of it or what relevance "Mano De Dios" meant if her source wasn't putting her on. Needless to say after a couple of hours of searching she was getting more and more frustrated.

"Maybe I can just find a local InGen office and bribe someone to tell me what I need to know," she laughed lightly to herself. Sighing heavily at that crazy idea, she found a listing of InGen's holdings around the world and accessed it. The listing ended up being by country and Sarah was about to access the United States listings when something caught her eye.

InGen Holdings-Dominican Republic(1).

Quickly sitting up in her chair, Sarah immediately recalled her mysterious source mentioning something about the Dominican Republic. She accessed the record and was greeted with a single listing: Hand of God Amber Mine and the location of the mine in the Republic.

"Hand of God…?" began Sarah confused as her brows scrunched up. "Wait, in Spanish that would be…Mano…De DIOS!"

Her outburst caused everyone nearby to look at her. Sarah sheepishly waved an apology and then quickly wrote down the information on the screen and then closed out of the files and ejected the CD and put it back in its case.

"I take it you found what you were looking for?" asked the librarian from earlier, both pleased and a little smug his suggestion had worked.

"Yes I did," said Sarah who was so excited by her find that she didn't even take offense to the librarian's tone. "What should I do with the CD?"

"I'll take it," the librarian offered and Sarah handed it to him. She then collected her things and put them back in her lucky pack and was ready to head for the exit ready to book the first flight to the Dominican Republic when something caught her eye. She reached inside her pack and withdrew a photograph of herself and a young woman in her mid-teens who in some ways looked like a younger version of Sarah herself.

Sarah stared at the picture for a few moments before lightly nodding her head and putting the picture away and then slung her pack over her shoulder and headed for the exit.

Hospital, Worker Village, Isla Sorna: Roberta Carter snapped awake and instantly sat up in her hospital bed hyperventilating. The nearby nurses and orderlies saw her state of panic and rushed to her side to try and calm her down.

"Where am I?" asked Bobbie still in a state of shock.

"You're in the infirmary in the village," answered one of the nurses. "You were brought in yesterday after that raptor attack."

Bobbie's attention darted around as she finally took in her surroundings. She noticed the EKG monitor beeping and displaying a steady heartbeat. She also noticed she wasn't hooked up to an IV which meant she didn't have any physical damage she was just wrecked emotionally from what had happened.

What _had_ happened…?

As Bobbie tried to remember how she had gotten out of the mess with the raptor she found she couldn't come up with an answer. She remembered being scared out of her mind and then there was a bright flash and then she came to just a few moments ago.

"Bobbie," said Lori pleased as she walked into the room. "I was hoping you'd wake up before I had to go lead the tour. How're you doing?"

"Still in one piece," said the Doctor flopping back onto the bed exhausted. Lori nodded her head.

"Guess I'll skip getting a second opinion," said Lori with a smile. "I'll see you later when the tour's done for the day."

"Thanks," said Bobbie grateful for the companionship of a friend after her ordeal. "I do have one question before you go."

"Shoot," said Lori while gathering her things.

"Do you know what happened?" she asked in regards to her survival of the raptor.

"Nope," said Lori simply. "I was with the tour group in the control room but then they stared getting a little hysterical so I had to escort them out. I didn't make it back in time to see whatever had happened to save you. But Sam'll be here soon and I'm sure he can fill you in. Catch ya later."

Bobbie nodded her head absently as she still was trying to puzzle together the gaps in her memory as Lori stuffed a muffin in her mouth and headed out the door.

What had happened and why couldn't she remember it?

Isla Nublar: In the jungle near Dilophosaur Country, bullets were heard firing along explosions from tank shells as smoke wafted up into the bright sunny sky.

"This is Team 1 accompanied by Team 3, 5, 7, and 9, we are taking heavy fire in sector 37-A! Request air support immediately!" shouted Jeff into his headset as a tank nearby fired off a round into the jungle with globs of venom flying against it in response. All around, fully clothed workers were firing blindly into the jungle in all directions against enemies they couldn't locate amongst the trees.

THUD

Jeff turned his attention to the humvee behind him as it rocked on his wheels and he could only look up in horror as a dilophosaur stood on the hood. It roared briefly and then its frill expanded before it was shot full of bullets and it collapsed backwards off of the vehicle and out of sight.

"Thanks!" shouted Jeff over the firefight at whoever had saved him. But there was no response as the workers had to keep up the firefight in case any other dilos decided to be a hero.

"Attention Team 1, this is air cavalry," the radio said crackling to life. "We are circling your position but are unable to specifically pin you down. If we open fire, we might catch some of you in the blast zone."

"Shit," said Jeff looking around at the firefight and up at the tree line above which was only letting in small shafts of light and most of those holes now had smoke pouring from them.

"Flare gun!" he shouted at the group and an instant later a gun and flares were thrown his way as the loud noise of another tank shell was heard firing coupled with another explosion a moment later.

"Alright air support, hold your positions because I'm going to send a flare straight up!" he yelled into the radio and hoped the helicopters could hear him over the loud noise. Loading the gun, Jeff aimed the gun straight up and fired it and the flare raced off above the canopy.

"We have your position Team 1," the leader of the helicopter contingent confirmed. Jeff breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, we'll be retreating back up the road towards the Visitors Center," he began. "I want you to lay down a suppressing arc of fire east of our position on my command."

"Roger," was the response. Jeff turned to the team who was still firing indiscriminately into the trees.

"We're going to blow this Popsicle stand!" he shouted at them. "Everyone get back to your vehicles!"

The workers slowly started getting back into the convoy vehicles as venom continued to fly everywhere.

"Tank 1, take the front and run over anything that gets in our way. Tank 3, bring up the rear of our convoy and lay down a suppressing fire behind us," ordered Jeff once he got into his humvee. Tank 2 was currently engaged in affairs elsewhere involving the triceratops and Jeff wished it had come with them into this failed push into dilo territory. But he had a good feeling that those hunting the triceratops wished the complete opposite.

"We're moving, sir," said Lorne from another vehicle as the convoy began moving off.

"Air Cav, you are a go!" shouted Jeff into his microphone.

A wall of fire erupted behind the convoy as if the sun had risen right behind them.

Main InGen Headquarters, San Diego: Stephanie Sandelder sat at her desk watching the two teenagers go through file after file in the computer lab looking for any number of unrelated items. So far it was all routine stuff but Stephanie was only more than ready to call her boss on the phone if they started perusing for restricted files.

Elsewhere in San Diego: Sarah Harding strode into her old family home to see her mother watching television in the living room.

"Sarah," said Mrs. Harding at a complete loss. "I wasn't…I mean…if you'd called…"

"Yeah, sorry, I've been a little too busy lately," Sarah confessed although her tone was hardly apologetic as she looked around the house. "Is Jess around?"

Mrs. Harding was a little surprised by that question. "She's up in her room."

Sarah looked up at the stairs leading to the upstairs part of the house.

"And how is she doing?" asked Sarah next, a little tentatively. Mrs. Harding shrugged lightly at that.

"She…doesn't remember a thing about what happened that weekend," Sarah's mother responded helplessly in reference to several weekends ago when Gerry had taken his daughter to an island off the coast of Costa Rica.

"Doesn't remember?" said Sarah as if finding that hard to believe. "Not anything?"

Her mother shook her head. "The psychiatrist we took her to claimed that whatever she saw was so traumatizing that her mind completely blocked it out as a coping mechanism."

"And dad hasn't said a word either?!" said Sarah a little irate. Mrs. Harding shook her head and Sarah growled angrily at that.

"Now just a minute!" her mother protested before her daughter could get started on a long winded rant. "Your father is under contract not to say a word about what he's up to."

"Yeah and I might have been willing to deal with that crap as long as he was the only one affected by it," said Sarah irate. "But not when Jess is involved!"

"He didn't mean to hurt her!" insisted Mrs. Harding. "It was…" she trailed off before realizing where her sentence was leading.

"An accident?" asked Sarah pointedly. "I seem to remember another 'accident' involving another little girl and some sharks that scared the living daylights out of her. It took her years to get over what happened."

"Apparently not," her mother muttered under her breath. "Look if you came here to insult your father again then you did your job. But he's not here right now to trade arguments with you so why are you really here?"

Sarah stewed over that comment. "I'm here because no matter how I feel about the things he's done he's still my father and right now he's in over his head. And I'm going to get him out."

Mrs. Harding's eyes widened at that as she found herself speechless at this turn of events. Sarah meanwhile said nothing else and headed up the stairs of her childhood home and walked up to one door in particular and knocked on it.

"Jess?" asked Sarah with a little trepidation as she had no idea what was waiting her on the other side of the door. Would her sister be huddled in a corner rocking on her heels muttering to herself, would she be sitting at her desk in a comatose state just staring blindly into a mirror, or would it be some other image she couldn't bear to watch?

With no other alternative, Sarah Harding twisted the door handle and walked in and what she was none of those things. Instead she found her sister sitting on her bed with her back against the wall and her legs stretched across the bed itself listening to her Walkman. Looking over at the door that was now open, the young woman was about to give an annoyed shout at her mother for barging in until she noticed who it was who had actually opened it.

"Sarah!" Jess shouted excited as she yanked off her walkman and quickly ran to her sister and gave her a big hug. "What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming home!"

Sarah smiled a little at being asked the same question that her mother just had.

"I came to see how you were doing," she said honestly as Jess pulled away. "Seriously, how are you? I mean to come by earlier but…I got busy and I know that's no excuse."

Jess nodded her head in a distracted fashion and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"I'm okay, I guess," Jess admitted, not sure what else to say. "It's just…"

"You don't remember anything," Sarah concluded, which meant her mother had been right regarding Jess's mental condition. She draped an arm around her sister for comfort as Jess leaned against her for support.

"I wish I could but I can't," said Jess frustrated as tears threatened to form in her eyes. "Sometimes I even wake up screaming at something I just can't see. It's…"

"I know," said Sarah nodding her head. "I've seen it before in some of the villages I've visited while observing wildlife and come across villages after an animal attack."

Jess's eyes bugged out at that and she separated from Sarah and stared at her. "You think I was attacked by a wild animal?"

"I don't know what happened," Sarah admitted frustrated. "That's actually why I'm here because whatever happened to you and dad wherever you went might very well happen to dad again. And he may not be so lucky the next time."

Jess had to nod her head in agreement at that but she said nothing else.

"And so far my search has gotten too much for me to handle on my own," Sarah continued. "So I could really use an assistant right about now. I don't suppose you know anyone available?"

It took a moment for Jess to fully realize what Sarah had just said and when she did her jaw dropped.

"Seriously?" she asked. Sarah nodded her head and ruffled her sister's hair.

"Absolutely," Sarah confirmed. "Where I grew up they had an old saying when it comes to finding out the truth. The Hardy Boys are good…"

A wicked smile flashed across Jess's face. "But the Harding Sisters are the best."

"That's my little sister," said Sarah pleased. "We'll be going on a little trip so how soon can you be packed?"

"I'm already packed," said Jess quickly as she walked over to her bed and pulled out her small suitcase and placed it on her bed. Sarah looked at her skeptically.

"How did you…?" she asked curious. Jess shrugged.

"When my trip with dad didn't last as long as it did, I never really got around to unpacking," her younger sister answered as she walked over to her closet.

"Oh, I see," said Sarah nodding her head. "Look, Jess, I do want you to know now that we're going to find out is probably not going to be pretty. Not after what did to you. I just want you to know what you're getting yourself into."

"I know that it won't be good," Jess contemplated sadly. "But with you there, I know I'll be handle it," she continued as she pulled out a backpack and set it on her bed and zipped it open to check what was in it. Jess then went around her room and picked up various things and put them into her back.

"Besides, I've got my lucky pack just like you do so I know I'll be fine," said Jess with an innocent smile as Sarah laughed at that as she hefted her own lucky pack on her shoulders.

"Like sister like sister," the older woman mused. Jess then picked up her skateboard off the ground and attached it to the outside of her pack and then pulled the pack up on her shoulders.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand," she said to her sister as she grabbed her suitcase and headed out the door. Sarah was about to follow after when she noticed her Jess's passport on her clothes dresser and she quickly pocketed it and headed out after her. Down the stairs, she saw her mother standing near Jess looking concerned.

"Relax, mom, she's just coming with me for a little while," said Sarah trying to sound reassuring.

"And where are you two going?" her mother demanded.

"Here there and everywhere," Sarah answered as she scooted Jess towards the front door.

"And when will you have her back?" asked her mother next knowing she couldn't stop the inevitable. Her daughters were as stubborn as her husband and when their minds were made up, next to nothing could change them.

"Before softball practice starts up," said Jess laughing as Sarah pushed her out onto the porch.

"Or before school starts," Sarah reasoned. Jess then ran off towards Sarah's jeep laughing all the way. Sarah was about to follow when her mother's hand rested on her shoulder to stop her.

"No matter what happens, you bring her back to me alive and in one piece," her mother declared solemnly. "I'll never forgive you if I see her come back in the same condition your father left her in."

"Did you make him promise the same thing?" Sarah had to ask as Jess began beeping the horn anxiously. Her mother nodded her head with tears in her eyes.

"I love your father but he had to leave in the middle of me being mad at him for what happened to her. I'd like to be able to finish that conversation with him in-person," her mother said as fury filled her eyes. "But if you don't bring her back then I'll never forgive you."

"S'okay, neither will I," Sarah confessed and then patted her mother on the hand and then headed off towards her jeep. She saw Jess sitting in the driver's seat and Sarah looked at her dimly.

"I have my learner's permit," Jess insisted as she threw the jeep into reverse in one swift motion.

"And since when do you know how to drive stick?" Sarah asked doubtful. Jess was about to answer when confusion crossed her face.

"I don't know," she stated before shaking off her confusion. "But I can do it, I swear!"

Sarah shook her head lightly. "You go over the median or run a stoplight or anything and that's it."

"Yes ma'am!" said Jess giving a mock salute as Sarah playfully smacked her hand and then got in the passenger's seat. "So where are we off to?"

"My place," answered Sarah as Jess backed out into the road and then took off down the road.

"Cool, girl's night out," said Jess pleased. "Hey your screwball boyfriend isn't going to be there is he?"

"He's not a screwball and he's…well our relationship is kind of complicated," Sarah confessed while leaving out the fact that Ian Malcolm had apparently been involved in the same incident that caused Jess to lose her memory.

"That is one big pile of shit," said her younger sister distantly. Sarah looked over in shock.

"Jess!" she exclaimed. Jess looked at her confused.

"What?" she asked, genuinely at a loss. Sarah's eyebrows furled at her sister's answer.

"You don't remember what you just said?" said Sarah perplexed. Jess shook her head.

"No, but that reminds me that mom says I've occasionally been saying random things in my sleep or when I'm distracted," Jess told her. "The shrink thinks it's my memories trying to resurface but I don't even realize that I've said anything."

Sarah quickly pulled out her notebook and wrote down what Jess had said even though it really didn't shed much light on anything at this point.

"Did I say anything important?" asked Jess curious. Sarah shook her head.

"Not really, but that's fine for now," her sister told her reassuringly. "Now, who wants to stop for some ice cream?"

Jess's eyes lit up at that request. "Me, me, me!"

"Then get us there in one piece and the first cone is on me!" said Sarah trying to remind Jess to keep her eyes on the road as the two Harding sisters drove on into San Diego seemingly without a care in the world.

Main Clinic, Isla Sorna: "Good to see you still in one piece," said Sam Stone relieved as he walked into Bobbie's waiting room and took a seat next to her bed.

"Thanks, Sam," said Bobbie thankful for the support as she groaned briefly while sitting up on her bed.

"So when are you planning on releasing yourself?" the Head of Operations on Sorna joked. Bobbie gave him a light smile.

"Probably after a few days bed rest and then I'll be available on a limited basis as I get my wits again," responded the Doctor as she sipped from her water container. "Look, Sam…about what happened…"

Sam shifted uneasily about what had occurred just a day prior before quickly regaining his composure before Bobbie noticed.

"That was what I was going to ask you," he responded instead of answering her unasked question. "The staff said there might be some slight memory loss."

Bobbie nodded her head. "I remember the raptor about to jump me and the worker I was with and then a bright flash and that's it."

Sam nodded his head. "That's actually about what happened. To distract the raptor, we remotely fired up the lights in the building and it distracted the thing long enough for the rescue team to reach you. They killed the raptor in mid-jump but also caused the ceiling to cave in on you. That's why you're in here and not resting in your apartment."

As soon as he finished saying that, it was dead silent in the room.

Bobbie nodded her head. "Thanks for filling in the details, Sam, I appreciate it."

Sam nodded his head and was grateful he didn't break out into a cold sweat over lying to the resident M.D. of the island. But he was under orders from above about keeping silent about what had happened and he had no choice but to obey them. And then his name was paged to return back to the Operations Building.

"Get well soon," he said with a smirk and then was gone from the room as Bobbie watched him go in silence. The Doctor then turned her attention to her hands as she studied them as if there was something on the edge of her memory that she couldn't remember…something very important. And before she was aware of it, she found herself staring at the PA system. She reached into her coat nearby for her trusty notepad to write that down, but then she couldn't find it.

"_It must be buried in the rubble_," she figured, vowing to get it back not just to wrote down more notes but to see if the pad contained clues about what had happened just prior to her memory loss.

Nublar: The workers from the failed venture into Dilophosaur Country were being looked over by the medical staff as Jeff Thomas sat with Samantha Brown and Ed Regis in the Control Room.

"I'm telling you those bastards are still really dug in there," Jeff complained as he looked at the welts on his body from where the dilophosaur venom had smacked into his protective clothing. The clothes of the entire team had been so covered in the stuff that they'd had to be burned rather than cleaned for the sake of time.

"So then what are our options because we need them out of there in three days," Samantha pointed out. "Hell we need all the stock eliminated in three days but besides these holdouts it's actually going according to schedule."

"Considering this is the third time we've sent a team in there and gotten no real results I think we need to level that whole part of the island to finish them off," Jeff figured.

"We don't have that kind of ordinance to do that," Ed scoffed. "Besides, our contract with the Costa Rican government sort of requires us to give this island back to them the way we found it. Blowing up part of it won't make that happen."

"You asked for my opinion and that's the only one I have beyond sending in more teams into that area to get nothing done," Jeff replied as he took a drink of water from his canteen. "How many of those things are still out there anyway? You said the number of dilos on this island was 15 but I'm pretty sure we've killed close to that many and it still seems like there's more out there."

Samantha was curious about that question herself as Ed shifted uneasily.

"I'd say between the fact that we haven't gotten most of the systems still running after Nedry's stunt and instead are taking most of them apart plus the destruction that's occurred to the motion sensors in that area from the previous tropical storm and the recent trips in there, we just don't know," Ed reasoned before Samantha could respond. Jeff got the distinct impression that there was something he wasn't telling him but without any idea what it was and since Ed was higher ranked them him in this operation he really couldn't call him out on it.

"I'd guess five or six by now," Samantha ventured. "One more trip in there should hopefully clear them out I would think."

Jeff wasn't happy about that idea and his body language clearly showed that.

"And I wouldn't have you go in there again without putting up some collateral," the Board Member continued. "We'll go in again tomorrow and when you do, I'll be there alongside you. And we won't leave until the dilophosaurs are gone."

Ed's expression turned to pure shock at that statement as Jeff nodded his head in approval of her statement.

"You can't do that! You're a Board Member and your safety matters above all else!" Ed exclaimed. Samantha shook her head.

"I'm not going to sit by this time and send men and women to their likely deaths without being there alongside them," Samantha responded angrily. "If I were in their shoes I wouldn't want to go out there again for no reason."

"That doesn't make any difference," said Ed dismayed at her reason for going. "You are the one in charge here after all, that doesn't make you expendable."

Samantha immediately directed all her attention at the Head of Public Relations.

"No one here is expendable and neither is anyone anywhere else on these islands," she reminded him. "I'm going in and that's final. Jeff, come up with some plan that we haven't tried before, something that will finish those bastards off once and for all."

"Yes ma'am," said Jeff now eager to get to work on that as he rushed out of the room. Samantha began gathering her things including several maps of that part of the island to get a better feel for the terrain in that area.

"I'll be in the dining hall conference room if you need me where I'll be speaking with Gerry Harding on Sorna," Samantha told Ed as the Head of PR nodded his head distantly as he wondered how he was going to explain all of this to Peter Ludlow during his next status update. Samantha was nearly to the door when she stopped before swiping her ID card.

"He's right you know," Samantha mentioned cryptically.

"Who?" asked Ed at a loss but not really caring what tangent the Board Member was on this time.

"Jeff Thomas's comment about the numbers of dinosaurs not adding up," Samantha clarified. "I have the same impression but I can't prove it either."

"Probably just nerves," Ed figured with his back to her. "This has seemed like a really long mission and we've only been here a few days."

"Maybe," Samantha had to admit. "Or maybe something else is going on."

Ed looked at her with an amused expression on his face. "I'd think if the dinosaurs were breeding we'd know by now. I mean the depositions of all the survivors of Nublar never once mentioned anything like that."

"True, but how do we know if what we read wasn't somehow censored the higher ups?" Samantha had to ask out of desperation. Ed laughed at that statement.

"You sound like Jake arguing about conspiracy theories that aren't going on at all," the Head of PR chuckled. Samantha had to concede that point although in Jake's defense little of his various ranting had ever been completely disproven.

"Okay," she said aloud to sate Ed's ego. "But what about what's happening here. Have any teams reported on encountering babies or juveniles or even hatched eggs out in the wild?"

"Of course not because if there had you would've heard about it by now," said Ed dismissively although his tone was less jovial than before. "Besides, even if they had noticed juveniles, some were introduced to make the scene more complete for tourists with parent and children dinosaurs."

Samantha also had to nod her head in agreement at that as she yawned into her hand.

"I'll be in the conference room," she said refusing to admit defeat. Ed gave her a brief wave and watched her go before leaning back against Nedry's terminal and looking around the control room which was deserted as all the programmers were on a brief break.

"Thoughts?" he asked aloud seemingly to no one in particular.

"Just the tired thoughts of someone with too much on their plate," said Peter Ludlow over the radio having secretly heard the entire conversation. "I wouldn't be concerned about it just yet. If Samantha starts to become a problem, I'll deal with it. But right now focus on getting that canister back that's what's most important."

"Understood," Ed confirmed and then the line went dead on the other end. The Head of Public Relations sighed heavily to himself as the empty room almost seemed to grow emptier by the moment.


	24. The Code

Isla Indigo: Daniela St. Ives was on her phone speaking with Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton who were outside of InGen on a payphone having done all the digging they could for the day.

"We couldn't find out much in the time we had, but just looking at the computer infrastructure of this place, if someone had sent an e-mail and your coworker didn't accidentally delete it but it was still erased, then it would've had to have been done by someone at corporate," Arby figured.

"But not by some third party?" asked Daniela writing down everything the young programmer said.

"I don't see how because the e-mail system is on the intranet so nobody from outside could get access to it let alone delete a sent e-mail without being at an InGen terminal," was Arby's opinion on that question. "Not saying that wouldn't be impossible, but I'd think the odds would be against it."

Daniela breathed out a long breath of air at hearing that and to prepare her for what she was about to say next.

"Okay, if I gave you a rough estimate about when I thought that e-mail was sent, how hard would it be to dig into the code and figure out who sent it?" asked Daniela next, fully aware that what she was asking could get her fired if found out by the rest of the Board. Arby whistled at that as Kelly scratched the back of her neck nervously.

"Digging probably would take some time and I could easily cover my tracks once I'm done, but the bigger issue is getting caught while I'm in there," Arby figured. "Once I start looking for something beyond the basic interface, they're going to know."

"So we'd need a distraction," Daniela reasoned. "Okay, you two keep digging through what you can access without causing trouble. I'll see you in a few days and we can further discuss our options then."

"Will do," said Kelly into the receiver before Arby hung it up.

"So what now?" the programmer asked of the adventurer. Kelly looked up at the sky which was beginning to darken with the onset of dusk.

"Now you buy me dinner," she told her friend as she clamped onto his arm and dragged him away protesting that he was a poor college student. But Kelly knew he'd pay anyway and they'd have a good time too.

Nighttime, San Diego Hospital: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were recuperating on their hospital beds after their nasty tumble with the Jeep.

"Jake, would you admit one thing to me?" Henry asked. Jake took a sip of the soup he had on his lap and nodded his head.

"Sure," the other scientist responded.

"You intentionally landed us here so you could get out of Alejandro's cooking for a few days," Henry deduced. Jake chortled at that before nearly spitting out the soup in his mouth before he began coughing while laughing at the same time before wincing as his sides still hurt.

"You're damn right," Jake confirmed before turning reflective. "I hope Jennifer got that sample, though."

"She's a good girl, I think she did," Henry reasoned. "But she'll want to know why we needed it so badly."

"Well she doesn't need to know," Jake swore. "Nobody does; nobody but us."

"What about Carly, Colin, Abbey, and Derek?" Henry pointed out in regards to the group investigating the effects of lysine deprivation on the dinosaurs. "They're smart and capable, they'll figure it out. Or at the very least, Carly will put all the pieces together."

"Then that's her problem with figuring out what to do with that knowledge because we don't have time to deal with it," Jake said at least a little sympathetic to the closest thing they had to a protégée. "We've only got about 80 days left until the fences fail, right?"

"Something like that," Henry agreed before sighing heavily and laying back down on his bed. "And there's one place we have to go before that happens."

"He won't let us go there…officially or otherwise," Jake warned.

"If we cared about being official with everything then we wouldn't have been able to make the dinosaurs," Henry shot back. "We'll have to come up with a list of whatever options we have to get transportation off the island and back without anyone realizing we were gone."

"On top of that, once we get there I hope we can figure out where Gustavius went," said Jake a bit miffed at his inability to explain that lingering question.

"We can worry about finding him later," Henry said as he set aside his soup, fluffed his pillow, and pulled up his bed sheet. "If we can't figure out whether the DNA sequences have been modified or not then E.L.E. might as well be useless to us."

Jake nodded his head at that but otherwise remained silent as he too began getting ready to go to sleep as well.

"This EKG is going to drive me nuts," Jake swore due to the constant pings from the device.

"Well I don't think pulling the sensor off of your arm is going to make things any better," Henry advised. "So if you can't sleep then think of home. Think of the cool ocean breeze blowing in from the west, the rustle of the treetops, the Velociraptors ripping a goat to shreds."

Soon both were snoring away.

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: Peter Ludlow was heading out the door as the building security began closing up for the night.

"Anything else to report?" the COO asked of the front door receptionist Stephanie Sandelder. She shook her head as she collected her things.

"No, I-," she began as the phone began to ring. She looked up at Ludlow curious as to whether she should answer it.

"Take a message and say we're closed," he ordered. Stephanie nodded and picked it up.

"InGen: BioEngineering: We Make Your Future, this is Stephanie Sandelder speaking. We're about to close, can I take a message?" she said crisply into the phone. Ludlow couldn't hear the other end of the line but his expression turned to concern as Stephanie's eyes bugged out and she jotted down the message.

"Yes sir, absolutely sir, I'll see that he gets it first thing tomorrow," she promised into the phone. "You have a good day, sir."

She slowly hung up the phone and stared at it before quickly writing down the note so she wouldn't forget.

"Who was it?" asked Ludlow curious.

"The boss," said Stephanie in a stunned tone as she picked up her things and carried them with her. Ludlow was now left at a loss that his uncle, John Hammond, had called InGen since he'd been incommunicado for such a long time. But what had happened since he'd last spoken with his uncle that would change his withdrawn demeanor. And then it hit him…

E.L.E.

Ludlow scowled internally at that realization. Of course his uncle could still maintain his presence in InGen's computer systems without actually being on the premises. And E.L.E. was such a red flag that it would've been foolish to assume that if it were activated that the CEO of the company wouldn't find out. And so Ludlow could only rue the fact that once more Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were proving to be such thorns in his side even after having been sidelined from action for a few days-completely ignoring that Samantha Brown had been the one to call for its implementation and he himself had approved it if only to avoid making matters worse on Sorna. Only now things _had_ gotten worse.

"What did he want?" asked Ludlow with a light tone that completely hid his inner turmoil after Stephanie had begun to stare at him waiting for a response.

"Just that he wants you to call him first thing in the morning. He didn't say about what," the receptionist responded as the two walked out the front doors and the security officers locked it up tight.

"Then that's what I'll do," said the COO trying to sound cheerful as he headed for his chauffeured towncar. "Goodnight my dear I'll see you tomorrow."

Stephanie tipped her head at him and then headed in the direction of the bus stop and the two parted ways.

Lodge, Isla Nublar: Samantha Brown was up late at night with Jeff Thomas and some of the other senior members of the Jurassic Park Demolition Project trying to develop a plan of attack that would finally rid them of the dilophosaur infestation.

Isla Indigo: Daniela St. Ives was going over plans to combine her island's personnel with Site B's and making appropriate notes on what she found wrong with that plan. And she was running out of time as her deadline was the day Nublar was finally demolished.

Worker Village, Isla Sorna: Lori Ruso waved goodnight to Richard Levine as he stomped away angrily at being again denied the opportunity to visit the Embryo Production Facilities. An ordinary person would've been left annoyed at his requests but she had an ace up her sleeves. Levine was still happy to be venturing into the interior of the island the next day but she'd neglected to let him know they'd be walking rather than taking a vehicle for their tour.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals Headquarters, San Diego: John Brown was poring over a map of Isla Nublar and making various notes on it. He then stared down at a line pointing from the Visitor's Center to the east docks with a giant circle on it. Clasping his hands in front of himself, he sighed deeply and then grabbed his phone and began making urgent calls.

It was a fitful sleepless night for many at home and abroad.

Next Morning: The sun rose above the early morning fog that tended to permeate the InGen islands. Samantha Stone stood outside enjoying the quiet of the early morning air…the calm before the storm of what was to come.

"Morning," said Jeff Thomas breaking into her reverie with a cup and a canteen full of coffee. He handed the cup to Samantha who gratefully accepted it as he poured her a cup.

"Thanks," the Board Member verbally stated before looking around. "Are they gassing up the vehicles?"

Jeff nodded his head. "We should be ready to go in another hour or so. The good news is that even though everything else was pretty much trashed in this place the underground gas tanks and fuel lines are still intact. We haven't had to worry too much about needing the fuel we have on the Venture because not much of the existing supply had been used up here."

"Good to see something good came out of having to evacuate this island on such short notice," Samantha said ruefully but knew that the team leader of the demolition project hadn't meant anything by his comment. After all, he was right in his assessment about the fuel.

"Were you ever here before it happened?" Jeff asked curiously. Samantha nodded her head.

"Yes but never under good circumstances. I had to come out here every time something bad happened that involved personnel and make a formal report on it to the Board and the lawyers," she told him. "You think you've seen bad stuff since we've been here and you're right. But I don't take much pleasure in saying that I've seen worse."

Jeff nodded his head in quiet understanding. He too had seen a lot of things he'd never forget working under orders from his boss John Brown in the areas of competitive intelligence and occasionally industrial espionage.

"Hopefully today won't be one of those days," he answered frankly and waved goodbye as he went to check on the convoy preparations. Samantha drained her cup of coffee and threw the cup in the trash before returning to the lobby to re-review the plans once more.

Isla Sorna: "I didn't wake up at the crack of dawn for this!" shouted Richard Levine as he stumbled behind the tour group as they walked further into the interior of the island. Doc Thorne was nearby writing down detailed notes on the fences and other assorted pieces of technology as Marty Gutierrez also took down copious notes of things that interested him.

"You wanted to get up at the crack of dawn to come out here so don't blame me," Lori shot back from up ahead as she chewed on a bran muffin.

"Well I didn't realize we wouldn't be riding a vehicle," Levine complained. A maintenance truck rolled past and honked at Lori who waved before the truck disappeared into the mists ahead of them.

"I told you before we're trying to conserve fuel," the Head of Production told him. "We will have electric tour vehicles at some point in the future but that won't be until well after Jurassic Park is demolished. Until then we have to make do."

"But couldn't we ride in to the interior of the island with some other group and then do a tour there?" Levine reasoned. Lori nodded her head.

"We might do that at some point in the future but we'd have to better packed since we may be out there awhile waiting for another vehicle to make it out our way to pick us up," she responded. "But we can think about that later because we're at our first stop, the Brachiosaur. Now let me see if I can work this thing."

Lori pulled out a handheld device that Sheila had cobbled together that worked like the tour vehicles interactive display back on Nublar. It was more sophisticated than just having the walkman tapes or the compact discs that had originally been made for Jurassic Park: San Diego…not that anyone on Sorna had any clue where those tapes or diiscs were these days.

"If you look to your right, you'll see the mighty herbivore of the late Jurassic Era, the brachiosaur," began the narrator as the group looked past the electrified fence to see nothing but fog and some darkened trunks that either were dinosaur legs or just trees. Levine briefly considered ranting again but instead groaned and held his head in his hands.

This tour was getting off to a great start.

San Diego International Airport: Sarah and Jess Harding were standing in line to get their plane tickets.

"So where are we going again?" asked Jess confused. "We got here so early I don't even think you told me."

"We're going to look at a mine in the Dominican Republic," Sarah answered, reminding herself that her sister wasn't fully up to speed on her investigation.

"Oh. Where's that?" asked Jess genuinely confused.

"Don't you pay attention in geography?" Sarah asked exasperated. Jess gave a large smile at that.

"Only when its places you've been to for your expeditions," the younger sister told her. Sarah rolled her eyes as Jess laughed at her reaction.

"You're going to need to know geography too if you plan on going into biology like dad and I," the animal behaviorist informed her sibling. "It is an island on the Caribbean Sea. Well, half an island since it shares the other half with Haiti."

"Ooh, can we go to the Bahamas afterwards?" Jess pleaded as they reached the ticket counter.

"No, we're on business!" Sarah snapped lightly before turning to the person behind the counter and getting them checked in.

Across the airport at the tarmac, Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive John Brown sat in his corporate jet as it taxied to the runway to take off for Costa Rica. Sitting on a seat in the airport terminal, Lewis Dodgson watched the plane before turning his attention to a worker who approached him.

"Our source in the airport confirmed it sir. He's headed for Costa Rica," the worker told him. Dodgson nodded his head.

"So it begins," he said softly himself with a small grin on his face before turning back to the worker. "Tell the corporate jet team they'd better be ready to go in a half-hour or they can start looking for new jobs."

The worker stiffened at that statement, gave a simple acknowledgment, and hurried off. Dodgson returned his attention to the window as he watched the plane roll out of sight before reaching down into his bag and pulling out a Barbasol can.

"You may have failed me in life Nedry but you'd better damn well not fail me in death," Dodgson swore and then collected his things and walked off to find the nearest payphone.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals Corporate Jet: John Brown was looking over a map of Isla Nublar with various notes on it. He then consulted his computer and then either wrote down new lines or erased others.

"Sir, we're almost ready for takeoff," said the flight attendant. John nodded and powered down his computer and tucked the map away.

"Was the Pacific Pharmaceuticals branch able to find someone?" he asked as the plan engines began powering up.

"Yes sir, they finally did find someone who will take you to Isla Nublar and will take cash but that person said you're taking your life in your own hands by going there. Apparently sea trawlers have been having problems for the past decade with heading southwest to either Nublar or Los Cinco Muertos. They're starting to get superstitious," the flight attendant answered. "If you don't mind my asking sir, what is going on down there?"

John Brown leaned forward with a conspiratorial smile on his face. "Off the record let's just say you can't keep something from returning from the grave after being dead for 65 million years."

That reference was lost on the flight attendant who just nodded their head and returned to their seat as the plane took off down the runway.

Visitor's Center, Nublar: "Acknowledged sir," said Howard King before he shut off his satellite phone.

"What is it?" asked Ed James smoking a cigarette near the entrance to the underground parking garage. The rest of the programmers and staff were in the dining area having breakfast and talking about the day's planned events and the two had been easily able to sneak off.

"The boss thinks Pacific Pharmaceuticals is going to make its move on the canister today during the fight in Dilophosaur territory," King confirmed.

"Oh hell," said James throwing the cigarette on the concrete in front of him and lighting up a new one. "I knew it was coming but you're right today would be the day to grab it make off with it. But where is the damn thing? They searched Nedry's jeep when we first arrived and they didn't find it in there."

"No, they didn't. But when I was on the docks of Nublar waiting for Nedry to show up with that can there was a torrential downpour going on. I'd guess the device got washed down the hill and is somewhere near the road to the docks," King reasoned. "So my course of action is clear. My question to you is, could you provide a distraction if I need one?"

"Sure," James confirmed nonchalantly. "But it'll be one hell of a distraction. Because if there's one good thing about the boss it was that he didn't trust that second rate programmer. And so with a little background knowledge I was able to find the line of code he used to bring this facility to its knees."

King nodded his head and clapped James on the shoulder and then silently walked off into the Visitors Center. James took one more drag of his cigarette and then tossed it off into the grass and stepped in as well.

The temperature on Nublar seemed to drop several degrees. In the distance, storm clouds could be seen on the horizon.

Sorna: "Well can't we go in there and look?" asked Levine. "They are herbivores after all."

"Yeah, herbivores several stories tall that way several metric tons," Lori added. "And if one of them steps on you then any chance you had of achieving either of those goals will be effectively null and void."

Thorne chuckled at that while Gutierrez wrote down a note about what she had said.

"I was promised that I would see dinosaurs and I intend to make that promise happen. Your investors won't be happy if in my report I fail to mention the fruits of this project," Levine pointed out to the Head of Production. Lori sighed before looking past him down the mist shrouded road.

"You want to see a dinosaur that's fine with me," she agreed before pointing her head at something past him. "Why you don't you go stand by marker 131 down there for a few moments and you'll see a dinosaur. Maybe more than one."

Levine had a suspicion something was amiss but shrugged and walked down to the marker. He looked at the high electrical fence above him with the pulsating blue and red lights at the top of the fence posts but there was otherwise no indicator of what dinosaurs lay beyond it since the area was still covered in fog.

"When am I going to-," he began irritated.

ROARRRR!

CRACKLE…CRACKLE…SPARK

Electricity flew everywhere from multiple parts of the fence as several blurs rushed up against it and then retreated from the shocks. Levine for his part jumped out of his skin he was so terrified by what happened. And just as quickly as it started it was over and the blurs retreated back into the jungle.

"Boy they sure liked you," Lori commented as the team walked up to the shivering Levine. "I counted about seven or eight of them. Guess you being new to the island made your scent more attractive. These days we can only get two or three for a regular worker if we're lucky. Most times they don't come at all."

"What was that?" Gutierrez asked astounded at the display.

"Deinonychus dinosaurs," Lori answered. "Although we sometimes called them Deinonychosaurs around here because just about everything else ends in –saur around here."

"And those were responsible for the A1 incident?" Gutierrez asked next. Lori nodded her head reluctantly.

"The species was," she confirmed. "They escaped from Nublar during a hiccup in the power. Everyone thought they died somewhere in the Pacific but clearly they didn't."

"Have any escapees from here reached the mainland?" asked Gutierrez. Lori snorted at that.

"We haven't had any escapees from here in years," she scoffed. "Sure we get the occasional internal prison break like we did the other day but none have made it to the beaches. If they had, the motion tracker numbers would reflect it."

Gutierrez wrote down some notes about that as memories of the chart back on his office wall came to mind.

"What do you think would happen in the event of total containment failure?" asked Thorne curious.

"You mean like what Nedry did to Nublar?" asked Lori for clarification. Thorne nodded his head.

"I'd say the possibility of something similar suddenly happening here is pretty slim since we're not as dependant on automation as Nublar was," Lori figured as the team walked down the road as Levine flipped off the unseen dinosaurs. "But we are set to lose power to most of the island in 80 days… I wouldn't worry about it because we have failsafe measures in place in case that happens."

"Which would be?" Gutierrez questioned. Lori flashed a smile at him.

"Sorry, even I don't know. It's highly classified and is known only to a few," she answered. "Now c'mon, we still have a lot to see before we reach the first emergency bunker and can break for lunch."

The group headed further inland as a pair of blurs appeared once more near the fence and then darted off again.

Nublar: "Best of luck to you, Samantha," Ludlow said sincerely over the phone to Samantha as he sat in the boardroom with the rest of the board members and Daniel Ross. "We hope you make it back in one piece. I just wish there was some other way."

"Thanks," said Samantha on the other end speaking from the lobby as the convoy outside made final preparations to move out. "If we don't move them out now then we'll be behind schedule for when the Anne B. finally docks with the equipment to tear down the physical structures. So I really don't have a lot of options left on the table at this point."

"Oh, I agree," Ludlow admitted before adding reluctantly. "Just…if all else fails make sure you either recover those missing embryos or destroy them."

A hardened look passed over Samantha's face. "I will. I promise."

Ludlow nodded his head even though she couldn't see it on her end as Jeff Thomas approached her and she hung up the receiver.

"We're ready to go," the head of field operations told her. Samantha nodded her head and took one last glance at her watch to see what time it was. 9:15 a.m.

"Any words of wisdom?" she asked of the younger individual as they headed for the main doors to the outside.

"When all else fails make sure they don't live to see tomorrow," Jeff offered lightly. Samantha laughed into her hand at that.

"I knew someone once who had a motto like that," the Board Member informed her companion. "He was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. And I hate him all the same."

Jeff didn't have a response for that he just swallowed nervously. Thankfully the two were already out and down the stairs in front of the long convoy of vehicles of all makes and models with one tank in the front and two in the rear. Hanging above just to the side over the nearby pond were the entire helicopter attack units with weapons gleaming in the morning sun.

The two advanced towards the vehicles as Ed Regis ran up to Samantha.

"National weather service says a storm is coming our way," he warned Samantha. Samantha sighed.

"This place has always been a magnet for them. Keep an eye on it for now and if you have to recall the workers out in the field," she advised.

"What about you?" asked Ed concerned. "If that storms hits and you're still out there…"

"No choice, old friend, no choice," Samantha repeated as she had said to Ludlow earlier.

"What happens if you fail and don't make it back?" asked Ed harshly. Samantha turned to face him.

"Then you tell Jake and Henry that they know what they need to do. No excuses, no second thoughts, no regrets," she swore. And then she was gone as she hopped into one of the lead vehicles and the convoy moved away from the building.

Jeff saw the concerned lines creasing the Board Member's face but knew better than to say anything. Instead he turned to Lorne Tenners and Chip Hanford who were riding in the back of the Humvee with other team leaders. He didn't even bother nodding at them or make any other movement that might make somebody suspicious. But they all knew what had to be done.

Recover that Embryo Canister at all costs and get it off the island.

Control Room: Cassie Matula watched in silence as the video feed in front of her showed the convoy rumbling off before vanishing out of sight. Sighing inwardly at being chained behind a desk, she immediately began rooting through the command files looking for anything that might give her team an advantage over any of Biosyn operatives or InGen's workers.

From behind her, Ed James watched her work with an inward smirk at her frustration. He then set his fingers on his keyboard and accessed the command menu and then went straight into the security menu and typed in a single command:

wht_rbt object

A/N: Fanfiction's formatting won't let me put in the code at is appeared in the novel and movie.


	25. Valley of Fire

Control Room, Isla Nublar: Ed James finished typing in the command and hit the enter button and was immediately thrown back by what he saw. Instead of expecting a confirmation line of code asking for the initiation of the command in question, instead a large graphical object appeared on the UNIX interface as a red button with white typeface stating: EXECUTE.

Ed groaned lightly at Nedry's use of theatrics over practicality. From where the InGen's programmer's station was located, anybody walking past it would have easily noticed it. Narrowing his eyes and wondering what else was part of the command designed to bring down InGen's security system, Ed ignored the execute button and typed in some commands into the interface and his jaw dropped when he saw a picture of a blonde woman in a zebra striped bikini appearing on the screen and then a box appeared next to it of the Visitor's Center outlining the security systems in place.

"Something wrong over there, Ed?" Tim called out from his console. James closed his jaw and shook his head with a disingenuous smirk.

"No sir. Let's just say I accidentally stumbled onto some pictures that shouldn't have been on company property," he said as if embarrassed by what he had found, which in some ways he was. A light chuckle broke out amongst the programmers who returned to their work.

"I wouldn't worry about it because we'll be purging all of these computers of their data before they're resold on the open market," Tim told him and then returned his attention to his terminal as Ed Regis was anxiously awaiting news on Samantha Brown's expedition. But Cassie Matula could tell it was something more than that. Back when she had first been brought into John Brown's small outfit, she too had similar expressions when poking around in various competitors' systems and being surprised by what she found. She had nearly blown the team's cover on a few occasions which is why John Brown had made her take lessons on how to maintain a poker face.

Knowing she had no real way of finding out what he was up to even though she was remotely linked up with Nedry's terminal-Tim would easily realize what was up-she accessed his electronic mail account and hurriedly found her sister's account and fired off a quick message from Tim's account and hoped she got it in time.

_S-Priority: Check A6!-CM_

Eastern Side of Nublar: The convoy moved past the destroyed road marker indicating which way the East Dock was located.

Embryonic Administration, Isla Sorna: Carly Carlson, Derek Hoyle, Abby Nakajima, and Colin Meeks were working on understanding the basics of the Lysine Contingency by poring over the copious notes Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, and Gustavius Graves had compiled when initially developing it. Nearby, Colin's sister Katrice was feverishly playing her Game Boy since she was only loosely affiliated with the group as she wasn't a geneticist and only did odd jobs around the place. Her being on the island was a pre-requisite for Colin to work for InGen so he could watch out for her.

"Wild stuff," Carly had to admit, impressed at the work the trio of scientists had done. Between Jake's screwball nature, Henry's natural talent, and Gustavius's strict attention to detail they had managed to craft a genetic failsafe into all of the dinosaurs that would prevent them from surviving for long as without the lysine supplemental enzyme they would slip into a coma and die.

…Only something had seemingly gone wrong. The lysine contingency had caused several test subjects to turn completely feral which had been eliminated. As for the one specimen they kept alive, it too had gone crazy for a time and was now perfectly normal as the Compsognathus sat in its tiny carrying cage on the table.

"But it still doesn't tell us what went wrong," Abby pointed out as she enjoyed some yogurt from a plastic container. "Which means…"

"Dissection," said Derek shuddering at that thought. He liked working with strands of DNA but seeing them splayed out in front of him caused him to turn green.

"Ah, quit complaining ya big baby," said Abby unsympathetically as she licked her spoon.

"Then maybe we can take two options on what to do next," Carly continued as the de-facto team leader. "Colin, you and your sister can take apart one of the specimens so we can run a full DNA analysis. Abby and Derek can work on modifying the genetic codes for the lysine contingency so we can see what code would be required for what we witnessed not too long ago with the test specimens."

"And what will you be doing?" asked Colin curious since Carly hadn't included herself in the group's plans. Carly made an uncomfortable face at that.

"With Lori leading the survey team and Jake and Henry in San Diego that means I'm in charge here for making sure we're doing our part in conserving power. Which means we're on a very tight deadline because they shut down half the Cray XMPs this Saturday and the other half next Saturday," Carly informed the group. That caused a look of dismay on the faces of the group. The Cray XMPs were powerful computers hooked up to the gene sequencers that could analyze and break down DNA strands in minutes and were essential when initially developing dinosaur DNA strands for cloning.

If they were going offline then that meant no new dinosaurs and in some ways made them extraneous as well. If InGen didn't need them then that could only mean…but the scientists each internally shook away those thoughts. They had a job to do right now and right now it seemed much more important than bringing dinosaurs back to life.

They just each hoped that when they were done they wouldn't wish they had started on this journey in the first place.

Jake Whitacre's office, InGen Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Sam Stone saw that Jake's door was opened and knowing that the scientist was still on the mainland he walked right in and saw Sheila Matula rifling through his desk. Sam watched her for a couple moments before clearing his throat to get her attention.

"If you're going to be breaking and entering you might want to be more subtle about it," he half-warned, half-joked with her.

"Not when gum is involved," Sheila declared as she kept rummaging through the desk. "They've been completely out at the General Store for weeks and I ran out of my last piece yesterday. I know Jake keeps some in here somewhere because he always uses some to annoy me whenever this happens."

Sam groaned at her single-mindedness before consulting his watch. "Look we have to be downstairs in the Control Room yesterday. Samantha and her team have already headed east by now!"

"Just cool your circuits, it'll only be another sec-aha!" said Sheila pleased as she reached for a piece of gum and then instantly recoiling her hand. "Ow! Damnit, Jake that's not funny!"

She tossed aside a pack of trick gum where when you reached for the single piece sticking out it buzzed your hand. Evidently Jake suspected Sheila might go rummaging through his desk one day when he wasn't around and decided to be prepared. Nevertheless there were plenty of other regular gum packets in the back of the drawer and Sheila crammed several into her pockets for good measure and then closed the drawer and headed for the door.

Sam closed it behind her and admonished her once more before the two went down the stairs and into the basement level where the Control Room was located.

"Hey Tim, you there?" asked Sheila into her headset after sitting down at her computer as an image of Sorna's current Head Programmer appeared on the main wall screen in front of them.

"Well it's about time," he said a little stressed about the current situation with Samantha and her team. "Where have you-."

"Cut the small talk, where are they?" said Sam cutting in as he took a seat next to Sheila and logged in to the terminal. Tim punched up a map of Isla Nublar and a line of blinking lights was seen advancing towards the East Dock.

"They're going to be inside the Dilophosaur Territory in about five minutes and after that…," Tim trailed off. Sam nodded his head. He was well aware of Samantha's plan that she had drawn up. The convoy of vehicles would enter into the middle of the perceived territory of the dinosaurs and then the attack helicopters would bombard the outer area and move inward in a tightening circle towards the convoy that would be firing outwards towards the bombardment. Once the bombardment ended, the workers would then move out towards the circle of flames around them. It was hoped the dilophosaurs would be caught with nowhere to go; but if it would really work would only be known when the operation began.

…And in Sheila's e-mail inbox, a lone message sat unread.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica: John Brown leaned against a rotted wooden dock post as the sea captain finished his checklist before letting him onboard. Which was fine with the executive as the boat was hardly the best looking one on the docks. But it would get him to Nublar with no questions asked which was what really mattered.

Or at least part of the way there, he amended, as a flatbed truck carrying an object covered in a tarp stopped nearby.

"Excellent," said John pleased as he walked up to it. The tarp was thrown off by one of the workers on the truck revealing a slick black powerboat underneath. He walked up to the driver and signed the appropriate paperwork as a crane on the back of the flatbed truck lifted the boat off the truck bed and then dumped it into the water. The driver then handed him a dossier and then got back in his truck and fired it up and took off.

"What's this?" the Costa Rican captain demanded having immediately exited his vessel after hearing the loud splash.

"My transportation for getting to Nublar," John answered as he grabbed a tow cable from the front of the craft and hopping onto the back of the captain's boat and attaching it. "And before you say anything, your job is to get me close to Nublar and then I will venture to the island in this and then come back when I'd done."

The captain looked like he wanted to complain but then realized the further away from Nublar, the safer he was. So if the crazy charter wanted to go it alone to that island then that was fine by him.

"We're ready to go," the captain begrudgingly admitted. John nodded and popped open the dossier he had received which had satellite photos of Isla Nublar that had only been taken moments earlier. The ink on them was still hot and smeared when he moved his fingers across them, but he could still get the gist from them. Four attack helicopters clearly visible along with a smaller line of convoy vehicles near them.

"Then I need to be there yesterday and you'll get a good bonus if you make that happen," John declared as the captain rushed for the bridge to start up the craft. A few moments later it was vanishing into the distance as a limousine pulled up to the docks. From the back, Lewis Dodgson exited the vehicle and walked up to the edge of the dock where he watched the boat vanish from sight.

With nothing to really say, Dodgson took off the hat he was wearing, the same one Nedry had criticized just weeks earlier, and held it up as if giving a fond farewell before a malicious grin spread across his face.

"Driver, to the heliport!" he ordered happily as he got back in and the vehicle drove away.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Sarah and Jess Harding emerged from the airport and got into the shuttle for their hotel.

"That's interesting your passport said you'd been to Costa Rica," Sarah noted as she examined her younger sister's document. "That's where Ian said he was going on business before his accident."

"Did he say what that business was?" asked Jess curious. Sarah shook her head.

"Not officially because was under an NDA," Sarah responded giving her sister back her passport. "But I met him in his hospital room and he babbled some nonsense that I think was because of all the morphine in his system."

Jess mumbled an agreement as she thought about their main problem. "Does InGen own anything in Costa Rica?"

Sarah reached into her lucky pack and pulled out her binder where she had compiled all of the information she had on the bio-engineering firm.

"Looks like they've got a building there and there's also a reference to some offshore assets," she read aloud. "I wonder what that last part means."

"You got me," Jess admitted as she absently drummed her hands on her carry-on. "I just hope this amber place has some answers."

Sarah swallowed hard at that statement. "Are you sure you want to know what those answers are? The answer, whatever it was, didn't sit too well with you the first time around."

Jess nodded her head in agreement as she looked out the window of the shuttle. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I have to know dad's safe and right now I'd give anything to know what's going in Costa Rica…"

Isla Nublar: "FIRE!" shouted Samantha into her radio as dilophosaur venom splattered against the convoy. From above, the sound of helicopters could be heard and then fire erupted across the jungle as incendiaries exploded all around the team. In the front and the rear of the convoy, the tanks began firing in a circular fashion as well to sweep the area as gunners on the roofs of the various vehicles also began firing their machine guns into the jungle.

"The incendiaries should be finished dropping in fifteen minutes which will give us a one-mile radius of where those remaining dilophosaurs should be," said Jeff repeating the plan into his radio while trying to be heard over the roar of the explosions and gunfire outside. "After they fall we'll exit the vehicles and spread outwards towards the flames taking out anything in our way. Once we're certain there's nothing else out there we'll return to the vehicles and punch our way out of here back to the Visitor's Center."

He got garbled acknowledgements as he hung up his radio while the whole vehicle shook from the shockwaves all around them.

"While you're doing that, I have my own task to fulfill," Samantha informed Jeff. He looked at her strangely, even though he secretly knew very well what she was going to be doing.

"Which is what exactly? We are in the middle of a warzone," he reminded her dimly.

"I have to go find something near the East Docks," the female Board Member told him. Jeff groaned at hearing her say that.

"It's not that thing that Regis was looking for when we first arrived that nearly got him killed is it?" he had to ask, even though he knew the truth. "Because that can wait until all of this is over. No container is worth your life."

"This one is," Samantha replied solemnly. "You ever hear the term 'Broken Arrow'?"

Jeff shook his head even though he had heard the term before.

"It's a term the military refers to in the event of a missing nuclear device," Samantha continued as Jeff gave her a skeptical look at her comparison. "The device I'm looking for is the same for our company because its loss would completely devastate our company."

"Loss to who?" asked Jeff displaying a piqued interest.

"None of your business," said Samantha with a mild smile. "I'm also not telling you who wants it so badly either."

Jeff held up his hands in mock surrender. "Just be careful that when you go and find this thing that the dinosaurs might not be the only ones coming after you," he warned.

Samantha cocked her rifle to emphasize her commitment. "I will."

Isla Sorna: "So most of the Jurassic Park terminals' data have been fully downloaded into the Site B mainframe repository," Tim explained to Sheila as Sam watched the convoy status from his computer. "Once that's done and we confirm everything we'll wipe the terminals clean for resale. I think Ludlow said the servers will then be stored somewhere off-site."

"Too bad we couldn't install the servers here," said Sheila disappointed as she clicked on various things on her screen as her eyes began to then shimmer. "That much processing power at our disposal…"

"Easy tiger before you start drooling," Tim said cutting in on her fantasy. "Don't forget how much formatting we'd have to do to get them switched over to Sorna's systems. Just because it worked here doesn't mean it would work over there."

"Spoil sport," Sheila grumbled. "And it's not like it worked there anyway, item 151 on the last glitch list said they were still having problems with the headlights running off the car batteries on the tour. I don't want to have to deal with that when-."

"WILL YOU TWO BE QUIET?!" demanded Sam cutting in on their conversation as Sheila was so startled so wasn't even paying attention to where she had clicked her mouse. "Look, I know what you're saying is important to the future of this company but right now we have the lives of 20 workers plus a Board Member on the line and I need everyone to stay sharp."

Tim and Sheila had to take a moment to collect their loose thoughts and each nodded in agreement.

"Sorry," they both apologized as they returned to their work. Sheila saw that her e-mail had been opened and was about to close it when she noticed a piece of unread mail from Tim.

"Hey Tim, why'd you send me-," she began confused until she read the message and her blood ran cold.

"Send you what?" asked Tim distractedly as he worked on trying to find a motion tracker or a camera that still worked near the dilophosaur paddock.

"Nothing, it was just an old e-mail," the female programmer covered up. "Hey you don't mind if I use your terminal for a minute do you?"

"Go nuts," said her coworker. Sheila quickly moved over to the terminal and fired it up and quickly remote accessed her way into Nublar and went straight to seeing what was on A6. What she saw nearly caused her to fall out of her chair.

"You okay?" asked Sam diverting his attention from Samantha's situation.

"F-fine," Sheila stammered as she got back into the chair. "It's just Tim doesn't know how to adjust a chair."

"Hey you don't like it then you can go sit somewhere else," Tim ordered. Sheila waved off his comment with her hand and then looked at the screen in front of her with the bikini clad woman, the overlay of the Visitor's Center security grid, and the Execute Button on the bottom right. Immediately pulling up the keystroke log for A6, she noted who was on that terminal and also the last few keystrokes that had been entered.

Quickly noting the real kicker of the commands, she wrote an e-mail and fired it off to Tim's inbox hoping he wouldn't notice it but Cassie would. She then trained her eyes on the security monitors showing the Control Room on Nublar and she watched her sister carefully as the camera image swept from side to side. After the second sweep, she saw Cassie make a sideways glance at the camera, as if knowing her sister was watching, and in that instance of connection, the two knew what they had to do.

At that instant both began digging through the lines of code of Nublar's command system looking for the white rabbit and what rabbit hole he could potentially cause them to fall into.

Isla Sorna: "So how many of these bunkers do you have?" asked Thorne as the group approached one of the concrete buildings that was at low level with the ground.

"About 200 hundred I think scattered here and there," Lori answered as she took her ID badge and flashed it near the barcode scanner and the door unlocked right away. "We keep them under barcode scanning during normal operating hours but when there's an emergency or power failure, they automatically unlock."

"You ever concerned a dinosaur might make it in here if that happens?" asked Gutierrez concerned as they walked down the stairs to the bottom level.

"It's always possible but once that door is locked there's no way they're getting in because those doors are solid steel," Lori pointed out. She then walked over to one of the storage cabinets next to which was a box attached to the wall which she popped open and retrieved the keys for the cabinet.

"So who is hungry? We've got MREs, dehydrated food, all the good stuff," she said poking around the shelves. When there were no responses she just took out various food items and tossed them to the group.

"Not very appetizing," said Levine disappointed. "Couldn't we go somewhere and get good food and not worry about eating up all the supplies in here?"

"This place has enough food to last a month so I think we'll be okay taking a quick meal. Besides, I'll note what we used and it'll be restocked during the next supply check," Lori told the group. The group ate in silence when Gutierrez spoke up again.

"Have you run drills on getting everyone to shelters in case of total power failure?" Thorne asked as he got a cup of water from the faucet.

"We did when we first built the place but we sort of got away from it. As the days get closer, I'm sure we'll be doing them again," Lori figured. "But in response to your unanswered question, no matter how many drills we run we'll still never be able to guarantee there won't be any casualties during the initial outbreak."

Eastern Side of Nublar: The aerial bombardment ended and the workers poured out of the vehicles in full protective gear as they spread out, each group being led by a member of Sorna's DRT team. They all fired into the jungle as globs of venom continued to spew from the trees and bushes…although at a considerably fewer rate than in previous journeys into the area.

"You all have your assignments so stick to them," Samantha ordered to Jeff, Lorne, Chip, Howard, and the rest of the leaders through her open window. She was sitting in the driver's seat of a Humvee that was getting the occasional smack of dilophosaur venom.

"You sure I can't get you to reconsider?" asked Jeff hopeful. Samantha shook her head one last time and then hit the accelerator as she drove around the tank at the front of the convoy and then continued on down the road and out of sight. Jeff and the group watched her go.

"Move out," Jeff ordered simply as the individuals dispersed out to their teams. The team members slowly moved out as Jeff, Lorne, and Chip used their radios to communicate with each other.

"Alright Lorne, this is it. Regardless of what happens to Chip and me, you have to make sure Cassie and Serena avoid any and all suspicion and make sure they get off the island," Jeff told his fellow Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker.

"You got it," Lorne confirmed. "But I still think this is way too big of a risk. You don't know how much the boss has been keeping tabs on us and you're willing to risk getting off this island by…"

"Look if we don't grab that canister now then we're never getting our hands on it again," said Jeff curtly. "I've made my decision, there's no going back now."

"Fine," said Lorne throwing up his hands in defeat before narrowly ducking away from a piece of stray dilo venom as he neared the workers currently pushing back the remaining dinosaurs. "Good luck," the second in command commented.

"You too," said Jeff solemnly and then he and Chip ran off into the dense underbrush. Nearby, Howard King watched them go and then he ran off after them.

Grey storm clouds drifted overhead as lightning could be heard in the distance.

Mano De Dios Amber Mine, Dominican Republic: Sarah brought her rented jeep to a halt near InGen's amber mine and she and Jess peered out over the location.

"You sure this is right?" asked Sarah doubtful. Jess was holding the map in the passenger's seat and nodded her head.

"That's what it says," the younger Harding sister confirmed before handing the map over to her. Sarah looked at the map and looked at their surroundings before reluctantly nodding her head. The two got out and made their way down some steep stairs on a small cliff face and walked out amongst a quarry.

"See, there's some equipment there and there so they must have been mining amber here," Jess pointed out at various places. Sarah again nodded her head in agreement as she took one more look closely at her map and then folded it up and put it in her pack.

They'd find the right place…there was only one problem.

"So if this is the place then where the hell is everybody?" the animal behaviorist said, asking the obvious question.

The amber mine was completely deserted.

Isla Nublar: Samantha Brown could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions along with the occasional dilophosaur hoot as she stood next to Nedry's destroyed jeep. If it weren't for the air filter attached to her outfit, she had little doubt she'd be retching all over the ground. The female Board Member felt grateful she wasn't doing that anyway given the appearance of Nedry's desiccated corpse which looked even worse than Ed Regis's description of him.

"Where the hell is that can?" Samantha wondered aloud. She's searched the whole inside and outside of the vehicle and even, to her disgust, Nedry's yellow rain slicker but come up empty.

There was the possibility that someone had already beaten her here and taken the can. But given the fierce resistance from the dilophosaurs she doubted anyone could've made it here and lived, either during the Jurassic Park Incident or the Jurassic Park Demolition Project.

PATTER…PATTER…PATTER…

Samantha's attention was torn away from her particular predicament as rain drops fell down from above. She looked up at the sky briefly and then looked at her gloved hands which were now beginning to get wet before ultimately looking down at the ground and seeing the water streak down the hill where the jeep had gotten stuck.

Her brain working quickly, the truth of what had happened that fateful night hit her. Not bothering to go back to her Hummer atop the hill, she quickly went over the ledge and worked her way down to the road below. Looking at the nearest side of the road, she judged where she thought the can would approximately have rolled to since she doubted it would have made its way over the lip of the asphalt road and went across it. She then hunched down on her hands and knees then carefully examined the area.

After several minutes of searching, she noticed an oddly shaped pile of dirt. Her eyes widening despite themselves, Samantha immediately got on the ground and began tearing away at the clumps before something white and blue caught her attention.

"YES!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a Barbasol can and cradled it in her hands. She tapped the can and could hear that it was partially hollow before examining it and by an educated guess tried to unscrew the bottom of it. The bottom popped open with a slight hiss revealing a holder for fifteen embryos which were all still there; although what their viability was, Samantha had no idea. She quickly screwed the bottom back into the device and found herself smiling despite herself as she clutched the canister close to herself.

ROAR!

She was halfway up the embankment again when a dilophosaurs appeared atop her standing next to the jeep. It roared angrily at her as she fumbled for her sidearm and its frill immediately extended outwards. Even with protective gear, if that glob hit her goggles, she'd be unable to see through them which would make her easy prey for that thing. In her haste she dropped the embryo canister and it fell with a clunk next to her briefly distracting the dilophosaur before it returned its attention to her.

BLAM!

An instant later the dilophosaur fell to the ground with blood spurting from its neck. It twitched on the ground briefly before becoming still as Samantha looked up and saw Jeff Thomas with his smoking rifle still held in his hands.

The Board Member breathed a sigh of relief as she knelt down to recollect the canister. "Thank you, Jeff. If these were any other circumstances and you disobeyed my direct orders I'd be showing you the doo. But even I can be wrong sometimes," she admitted as she picked up the can.

CLICK…CLACK CLACK

The sound of that same rifle now being reloaded in close proximity to her head caused Samantha to give pause in what she was saying. She turned and saw what her ears had confirmed, that Jeff Thomas was now aiming his rifle at her.

"What are you doing?" she asked completely surprised. Jeff looked at her coldly past his protective goggles.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you keep that canister," he informed her bluntly. "Either hand it over or face the consequences."

Howard King heard the sounds of conversation as he took up a position up the hill from where the voices were coming from. He looked down at Jeff Thomas holding Samantha Brown at gunpoint and smiled to himself at neither having noticed his approach. Checking his rifle to make sure it was still loaded, he aimed it down at them, pulled back the trigger, and fired.


	26. Docking Information

A/N: The current plan is that Part I of this story is going to be end in a few chapters so I can focus on other stories and then I'll pick up in this same story with Part II. I also read that Jurassic Park IV is coming out in June 2014. Hopefully I'll have this story done by then…

Isla Nublar: Chip Hanford was standing in the rain across the road as he watched Jeff Thomas and Samantha Brown briefly argue over the canister when his acute hearing picked up a non-natural noise from around them. He darted his attention around the area but his vision was partly obscured by the rain streaking down his protective goggles. He was still sweeping the area when a gunshot was heard. Chip immediately took cover and looked over to see Jeff having tackled Samantha behind the small embankment to protect her from the shots.

Chip for his part finally located where the shots were coming from, aimed his M16 rifle into the trees above him, and returned fire.

Pacific Ocean: John Brown could barely make out the island of Nublar with the overcast clouds high above it, far in the distance.

"I should be back soon. If I'm not, in three hours you're free to leave and forget all about me," John told the boat captain who merely held up his hands as if he had already washed his hands on this whole venture. The Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive untied his black speedboat from the back of the fishing trawler and soon was roaring off away towards Jurassic Park.

A few miles back, a disguised BioSyn helicopter roared low over the ocean to avoid detection as it too headed for Nublar with Lewis Dodgson onboard.

Across the road, the sounds of gunfire were heard as Jeff did what he could to shield Samantha as bullets ricocheted around them.

"The hell kind of a stickup is this?!" Samantha found cause to complain as she screamed briefly when a bullet ripped right over her head and hit the pavement.

"Give me that canister and it'll be my problem and not yours!" said Jeff lunging for it. Samantha barely kept it away from him, but the new mud on the ground caused her to lose her footing and she collapsed onto her backside.

"Who do you really work for?" Samantha demanded as she tried to scurry away from Jeff on all fours as he advanced on her while still trying to keep out of sight of the unseen shooter.

"That's none of your business. But it has nothing to do with destroying InGen," Jeff swore as lightning flashed overhead and thunder could be heard accompanying it.

"Then why are you here if not to sabotage us?" Samantha asked next as she fumbled for her gun that was secured to her side.

"I'm only here for that!" Jeff insisted pointing at the device.

"And why do you want this canister so badly?!" Samantha shot back trying to distract the man. To her surprise, it worked as Jeff was momentarily distracted by that nagging question.

"I don't know," he reluctantly admitted. Samantha then pulled out her gun but Jeff was too well trained and kicked it out of her hand and then knocked the can out of her other hand with his and picked it up.

"Then someone's not telling you the real truth by not letting you know," Samantha swore darkly as she looked up at him through blood stained eyes from lack of sleep, something noticeable even despite the goggles. "And I should know; I'm in the same situation. That's why I need those embryos."

Jeff regarded the can carefully as Chip raced across the road and fired some more into the trees above them before tapping his hand on Jeff's shoulder and jerking his head towards the sign indicating the East Dock.

"Cover fire and then I'll be with you," Jeff promised. Chip nodded and headed off down the road while firing at their unknown assailant who continued shooting at them. Jeff then turned to look at Samantha long and hard as she stared up at him.

"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely and then ran off down the road leaving Samantha with nothing but a jumble of confused thoughts running through her mind.

Above, Howard King watched the two Pacific Pharmaceuticals workers vanish from sight. Scowling at his poor marksmanship, he wondered how he was going to catch up with them. …And then his eyes fell on Samantha Stone's Hummer and a smile spread across his face as he ran off towards it.

Below, Samantha had gotten back on her feet and was brushing mud off of herself when she had to leap out of the way as her Hummer raced past her towards the East Dock. She hadn't seen who was driving, but given that someone had been shooting at her and Jeff and his accomplice, it seemed a third-party was involved in the attempted recover of that embryo canister.

Gathering her wits about her, Samantha Brown recollected her weapons and ran off down the road after the departed individuals.

Control Room, Isla Sorna: Sheila was rocketing through lines of code with the search algorithm she was running; while on Nublar, Cassie was doing the exact same thing; both trying to hunt down the elusive white rabbit and find his rabbit hole.

"Some early news coming in from the team," said Ed Regis over the conference hookup. "It looks like they were successful."

Sam breathed out a long sigh of relief at that.

"Finally some good news," he commented as he reached for his coffee.

"Have we heard from Samantha yet?" asked Ludlow on his end.

"No, there's still a lot of disarray over there from all the destruction so they're trying to get an accurate headcount," Tim told him. "Once they track everyone down we should then be able to get a bead on her."

"Then put me in contact with the second in command," Ludlow requested. "Jeff, whatever his name is."

Tim and Ed Regis gave each other a sideways glance at that statement.

"Yeah, we're kind of having problems getting in touch with him," Ed admitted reluctantly.

"What?" said Ludlow as that got his full attention. "Find him, immediately!"

"I-yes sir," said Tim hurriedly as he began typing away on his keyboard and making some calls.

"Who else is missing amongst the senior staff who were there?" Ludlow asked.

"Chip Hanford and Howard King,"

"Ed, I need you to go to the East Dock immediately," Ludlow ordered. "Find the DRT team in that mess and then take them with you."

"Right," said Ed as he ran from the room.

"What's going on?" asked Sam concerned.

"Nothing you need be worried about right now," the COO of InGen stated with a dismissive shake of his head. "I'm sure we'll be hearing from Samantha very..."

Alarms suddenly started blaring and Cassie and Sheila were both terrified that Ed James had made his move already. But looking at her terminal, Sheila saw that the male programmer hadn't done anything yet. Quickly sending a reassuring message to her sister that she read through Tim's e-mail system, the two continued their work.

"What now?!" demanded Ludlow at this sudden intrusion into what was going on.

"Sir, tracking buoys on the east side of Nublar have gone off!" said Tim heatedly. "We've got an unidentified seagoing object on rapid approach to the East Docks."

"Where are our helicopters?!" shouted Ludlow irate. "Send them to the East Dock now!"

"Sir, we can't," said Tim shaking his head and knowing he was being the bearer of bad news. "They're all being refueled right now. And even if we did get one in the air in the next few minutes it wouldn't have any ordinance."

Ludlow barely avoiding cursing at that fact but knew it would be no good. Obviously whoever was doing that had to have deliberately chosen this time to make their move.

And then suddenly a new round of alarms went off startling him out of his thoughts.

"Sir, radar is picking up a flying object also approaching the east dock," Tim revealed as he read his display. "ETA for both is about six minutes."

"Then tell Regis he needs to be there yesterday and see about getting the cameras online on the dock," Ludlow began. He was about to go further when he saw something off camera and his jaw dropped.

"I'm sorry, sir, I tried to keep them out, but-," began Stephanie Sandelder.

"Hey Pete, what's going on?" asked Jake Whitacre with a smile as both he and Henry Wu entered into the room, both heavily bandaged but otherwise perfectly mobile.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Henry asked also bemused.

As if the day wasn't stressful enough for InGen's COO…

Nublar: It was difficult for any programmer in the room to notice the commotion coming from Tim's desk. But for Cassie it meant more to her than the others…and she a hunch Ed James felt similarly.

She also knew that if anyone at InGen got any video evidence of what was going on that John Brown, Pacific Pharmaceuticals, and by extension her, would be completely up the river.

The only way to stop that would be to sabotage the cameras. But she also remembered her sister's threat about not doing anything besides looking for dirt on Nedry. And so she knew that if she went where she wasn't supposed to go, Sheila would never forgive her.

Looking up at the security camera that was panning the security room and when it briefly looked straight at her, Cassie felt a slight tear roll down her cheek.

"_I'm sorry_," she mouthed to the camera. And then set about on her work to find the camera program location on the mainframe.

Sorna: "Jake, Henry, long time no see!" said Sam pleased at the scientist's return to the living. The two scientists were visible on the remote feed to

"Hey Sam, how's the island? Did it fall apart without us?" Jake teased.

"Actually, Lori wanted me to let you know that island efficiency is up thirty percent with you not around," Sam told him. Jake groaned at that as that was Lori's standard line to him whenever he was gone from Sorna for a prolonged period.

"So what's everybody so excited about?" asked Henry curious. Ludlow appeared reluctant to tell them but figured they'd find out sooner or later anyway.

"There's a commotion near the East Docks," the COO said, still hoping to be ambiguous and hope Jake and Henry would chalk it up to dilophosaurs. Henry sighed at that as Jake shook his head in disappointment.

"So someone's finally making a play for the embryos; are they?" asked Jake knowingly. To Sam's side, Sheila abruptly stopped typing but Sam was too wrapped up in what Jake had said to notice. Sheila for her part had been hit by a double whammy of Jake's statement and that her sister was no longer looking up the filename of wht_ and was instead trying to get into the camera system.

"Why didn't you tell me this might happen earlier?" demanded Sam since it was clear from Ludlow's earlier orders to Ed Regis that both had likely suspected something was going to happen.

"It was strictly need to know and I didn't want to distract you from your regular duties trying to ensure Sorna's survival. Besides, there's little you could do about it from where you are anyway," said Ludlow irritated that he had to be going over this while more vital things were currently happening on Nublar. "Timothy, why are you not getting us a feed from the East Dock?"

"I'm trying," the programmer insisted as he tried to work with the code. "But something's blocking my access."

"Maybe the cameras over there are damaged after that storm," Sam reasoned.

"Or else there's a bat in your belfry," Jake muttered. Ludlow shot the scientist a glance and then turned to Tim.

"Is that possible?" he asked. Tim shrugged.

"I wouldn't be surprised," the programmer stated nonchalantly. "But really there's not much in these systems that would be useful for anyone who would have reason to be here. All the DNA sequences are currently stored on Site B's mainframes and I just checked the servers and the only traffic coming back and forth between the two islands has been between Sheila and me."

"But we're logging keystrokes so…," began Ludlow. Sheila tensed up at that statement.

"Why not just send a guard to look at all the programmers and so who's doing it?" asked Sam feeling that all this tech talk was a waste of time.

"Like they're going to know what to look for," Jake laughed at that idea. Sam was a little steamed at this flippant remark but knew he was right.

"Should we even be discussing this over an open mic?" asked Henry concerned. Tim waved off his concern.

"They stop now and they won't be able to access the cameras if I get there first," the programmer told the scientist. "They can't afford that."

"Very well," said Ludlow feeling somewhat placated over this scenario involving the computers. "Ms. Matula, would you-?"

"You know what," said Sheila abruptly as she pushed herself away from her desk and stood up. "I need some air."

Before anyone could protest, the female programmer yanked out a stick of gum from a pack Jake instantly recognized and put it in her mouth and began to storm out the room.

"Hey, give me back my gum you thief!" Jake yelled out after her but she was gone without another word and Jake threw up his hands in desperation.

"That was weird," Sam admitted as he turned to look at the closed door. "I wonder what's gotten into her?"

Before anyone could respond, Jake came up with an answer. "I'd say nerves. She probably just had to blow off some steam what with everything that's going on around here lately. I feel the same way."

That answer surprised Henry. Normally Jake would be the first one to spout off some conspiracy theory whether serious or half-joking when something strange happened. That he hadn't in this case was somewhat suspicious but maybe he had good intentions behind it considering the embryos were in danger. He made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"Ah, Jake's right she'll probably be back in a few minutes," Tim agreed as he cracked his knuckles. "It doesn't matter anyway because no two-bit hacker is going to outclass me."

The programmer began typing feverishly as he sought to find a way into the camera system while the others could do little but watch from their vantage points.

"Sam if you scrambled your two pilots right now how long would it take them to get to Nublar?" Ludlow asked curious.

"Once they're off the ground it would take forty to forty-five minutes in the helicopter and probably about fifteen or less in the DC-3," was the response he was given by Sam. "The helicopter is about ready to be put back into service since it's finally been detailed cleaned. But Kevin and Jennifer just took apart the plane's right engine because I guess it's pulling to the side or something. No ETA when they'll be done."

Ludlow let loose an exasperated groan upon hearing that. "Well tell them to be prepared to scramble to Nublar at a moment's notice." He ordered. "And put me in touch with Ed Regis now!"

East Docks, Nublar: In the distance, a powerboat and helicopter could be seen racing towards the island as shots rang out from the jungle towards the water. Jeff Thomas and Chip Hanford ran out from the jungle and into the dock area as seconds later a Hummer also appeared chasing after them.

The two Pacific Pharmaceuticals workers took cover behind some equipment and opened fire on the pursuing vehicle. Chip managed to blow out one of the vehicle's front tires and it skidded to a halt as Howard King pushed open the driver's side door and ran off for cover as bullets peppered the area. The Biosyn worker also took up a position behind the base of one of the giant dock cranes and fired off a couple of shots.

"Give it up Pac Pharms!" Howard yelled at his opponents as he reloaded his weapon. "You're not leaving here with that canister!"

"That's rich coming from a B-Syner!" Jeff yelled back, trying to stall for time. "You're lucky InGen supplied your bullets because your real employer is run by real bean counters! I wouldn't be surprised if Biosyn will even be around in the next five years with all your recent scandals that have required massive payoffs to keep quiet."

"Oh, we'll be around," insisted Howard as he finished chambering rounds into his rifle. "Can't the same thing for you, though."

Jeff made a motion to Chip who nodded his head and silently moved off to try and outflank Howard King.

"I don't see where you came up with that idea," said Jeff slightly offended at such a remark. "We're a multi-billion dollar multinational company. Something like that doesn't just disappear overnight."

"No, but any chain is just as strong as its weakest link," Howard reminded him. "That being you and your boss. Coming here was the last mistake that either of you two will ever make and you'll take your company down with you."

The sounds of the powerboat and helicopter could be heard and all three faces turned towards the sea as the two vehicles could be seen drawing ever closer.

"That's not the way I see it," said Jeff with a grin. Howard King was about to respond when he felt the cocking of a gun behind his head and he looked behind him to see Chip Hanford at point blank range. Jeff got up and walked over to the duo and took Howard's rifle and emptied it off its bullets before tossing it the ground nearby.

"Guess you lose this round," the Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker observed. Howard King gave him a devious smile.

"It's not over yet," was his smug response.

Control Room: "Ha, ha, success!" said Tim triumphantly as the camera monitor on the big screen fired up showing the East Docks. Cassie watched the cameras slowly start to pan across the area to try and see what was going on. Despite her situation, the female programmer smirked briefly and hit the enter key on her keyboard and the signal burst into static.

"Oh, shit," said Tim annoyed and began digging into the code to try and fix the signal. On the other sides of the conversation were annoyance, disbelief, and someone cracking a joke and being told to be quiet.

East Docks, Nublar: Jeff was about to question what that meant when a sound of feet running across the concrete was hear accompanied by the sounds of panting breath. The three turned to look across the way as Stephanie Brown came to a halt completely out of breath.

"All three of you are under arrest!" she wheezed as she could barely stand straight while still holding her gun at them. The three looked at each other and then back at her as if somewhat amused that she could hope to hold the three of them until backup arrived.

"You and what army?" they asked in unison.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Abruptly high winds buffeted the group as the black helicopter roared by low over their heads. The winds scattered the group and Samantha fell to the ground as she was too tired to stand up any longer. The wind also had the adverse effect of tearing the embryo canister from Jeff's jacket and it went rolling off down the docks as he immediately went after it as Howard King pursued it as well with Chip Hanford farther behind having elected to take the occasional warning shot at the helicopter to get it to veer off.

As they ran towards the end of the dock, the powerboat went racing past in the opposite direction throwing waves onto the concrete and dousing the three men with water. It then reached the shoreline and spun around to head back. But what the driver of the boat didn't take into full account was Samantha Brown who was now hobbling along trying to catch up with the three imposters trying to grab the embryo canister. As it was moving past her, the helicopter went rocketing close by overhead and the driver of the boat instinctively veered to try and avoid a collision. The resulting wave splash and thrust from the boat was enough to knock the weakened InGen Board Member off the side of the dock and into the waters nearby. Jeff, who was looking behind him to judge when the powerboat would catch up with them, saw the whole thing and swore to himself. He grabbed a nearby metal rod and used it to knock Howard King off his feet before tearing back the way he had come.

"Chip, get the canister!" he yelled at the other Pacific Pharmaceuticals worker as the two went past each other. The worker gave a silent nod of his head and continued on as Howard King got to his feet and the two now barreled towards the shaving cream can that had stopped on a crack in the concrete. The powerboat then went by him and briefly slowed down but Jeff waved to it to keep going and it moved on towards Chip.

He then made it to the end of the dock and dove in without hesitating and swam out to Samantha and helped bring her in. As the two lay gasping on the docks, Jeff looked up blearily and saw Chip knock Howard King off his feet and then sweep the canister up into his hands and leapt off the dock as the powerboat stopped at the end and he dropped into it as the top compartment opened and the worker dove into it. The top compartment then closed and the boat tore off as the helicopter landed nearby to pick up Howard King and then chased after the boat.

"Why?" croaked Samantha coughing out some seawater. Jeff could tell the question was more directed why he saved her and not why did he want the embryos so badly.

"Because I'm not your enemy," Jeff insisted again. "I'll make this up to you, somehow."

The sounds of an engine could be heard as a new Hummer appeared from the jungle and drove into that dock area straight at him. With that Jeff was gone running down the dock as fast as he could as the powerboat appeared once more and picked him up and tore off with the helicopter again coming after it while the DRT Team opened fire on the two departing vehicles.

"Samantha, are you okay?" Ed Regis asked concerned as he helped her up. Samantha nodded as she coughed hoarsely from her dip in the water and Ed motioned to one of the DRT members who brought over a blanket and draped it over her.

"I'll live," she said ruefully as she watched the vehicles depart.

"Did they get it?" asked Ed needing to know. Samantha slowly nodded her head.

"They got it," she confirmed and the Head of PR was immediately off to inform Ludlow and the others. Alone, Samantha walked to the edge of the dock and looked at the departing vehicles and tried to make sense of what had just happened. And more importantly what Jeff Thomas had meant by his final statement to her.

Control Room, Nublar: "Damn," said Tim disappointed at hearing that the embryos had been stolen. "What were they driving?"

"It was two separate parties fighting for the embryos. One fled in a boat, the other by helicopter," Ed began. Cassie Matula and Ed James both did everything in their power to try and lean in to hear the next part. On it, everything depended for the both of them.

"So which group got the embryos?" came the inevitable question from Ludlow. Ed could be heard asking Samantha that question to which she responded.

"The group in the powerboat," relayed the Head of Public Relations to the group. Both programmers were too caught up in their own emotions to notice what the other was up to. Cassie just breathed out a sigh of relief and completely forgot that Ed James currently had a unique piece of code he was on the verge of executing. Ed for his part gave a slight smirk and began typing away on his computer.

Control Room, Sorna: "Sorry," said Sheila apologetically as she took her seat once more at her terminal. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, the embryos got taken," said Sam glumly. Sheila nodded her head as a wave of sadness fell over her because this was the end result of her sister's betrayal.

Sitting at her computer she was deciding what to do next when she noted what was happening on Ed James's computer now that the embryos had been taken. He had exited out of his coding window without implementing wht_ . Curious-and desperate not to be thinking of her sister-Sheila was thinking about what to do next when her search for that term in the computer's code indicated that it had found something.

"I'm not too concerned," she could hear Henry Wu say over the radio. "Those embryos are useless right now because they haven't been properly cooled for weeks now. Viability is gone and those DNA strands are garbage at this point."

"But somebody still wanted them," Ludlow reminded him. "I want to know why."

Arguments and theories raged over that subject as Sheila read in the coding what the white rabbit was responsible for. When she finally saw it, her jaw slowly dropped wide open she was so shocked.

Ocean: Lewis Dodgson's helicopter pursued the motorboat as much as it could before fuel consumption concerns forced it to race off for Costa Rica.

"I wonder how he's feeling right now?" asked John Brown in a jovial mood as he steered the boat with one hand and held the embryo shaving cream canister in the next.

"I can only wonder," said Jeff as he used a towel to dry off his face. "That was not easy to come by. Or get off the island." He said, alluding to the fact that they'd had no contact with their boss for an evacuation from the island but he'd still managed to come through for them.

"Hey, if it worked once in Nicaragua I figured it would work a second time here," said his boss, pleased and grateful that it had in both instances. "Course, it was a real hassle trying to keep exact tabs on what InGen was doing over here. But I figured if you were going to make for the embryos, this would be the time to do it. But don't worry boys with this it only gets easier from here!" He continued, briefly flipping the canister in his hand and then putting it in his jacket pocket. The boat continued on towards its rendezvous with the fishing trawler.

Mano De Dios Amber Mine, Costa Rica: "Can I help you?" asked a voice with a Spanish accent from out of nowhere as Sarah and Jess Harding were both startled out of their sweeps of the empty amber mine. The two turned to see an older slightly balding man approaching them from a nearby wooden building which must have been the office of the place.

"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you," the man apologized as he offered his hand. "My name is Rostagno I run…or should I say _ran_ this facility."

Sarah figured the man was likely up to no tricks, especially by himself and with Jess there, and so she shook his hand.

"My name's Doctor Harding and I-," began Sarah wanting to ask him a few questions when that name caused some recognition with the Amber Mine overseer.

"Doctor Harding? From InGen?" asked Rostagno, a mixture of doubt and hopefulness in his tone. That question threw Sarah by surprise but she managed to stop any of it from being expressed on her face.

"Yes I am. Sarah Harding," she said introducing herself. Apparently this man knew of her father's association with the company but not much about him if he thought she was the Harding being referred to.

"May I see some identification?" the man said, asking the next reasonable question. Sarah pulled out her San Diego University ID and handed it to him.

"Sorry I don't have my InGen ID," she apologized trying to sound embarrassed. The other reason she used her school ID rather than her driver's license was that her school ID identified the department she worked for. Rostagno knew at least something about her father and so having an ID saying she worked in behavioral research with animals may be enough to convince him she was the real deal.

"And you are?" asked Rostagno to Jess as he returned Sarah's ID. Jess gave a smile.

"Jess Harding. I study extinct species," the younger Harding sister replied with a grin. To Sarah's surprise that also seemed to resonate with him as well. What she couldn't see was Jess's eyebrows scrunch up as she wondered where she had come up with that answer and why it had seemed the right thing to say.

"So have you come to let us know InGen is starting up production again?" asked Rostagno with a tone between hopefulness and desperation. Sarah shook her head.

"Sorry, I was just here on vacation and thought I'd stop by," she offered apologetically before looking around the place. "I guess they stopped production after the accident?"

"Yes, though I can't be surprised after hearing what happened on Nublar," Rostagno agreed with a nod of his head. That gave a measure of hope to Sarah that she might be able to finally find out what happened. For Jess, her head snapped up after hearing the word Nublar as a wave of fear and dread passed over her…although she couldn't remember why she felt that way.

But before either could say anything more…

"Look, I mean you no disrespect but this is still private property," Rostagno began. "If you're not here to tell us we're restarting our work then I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Sarah wasn't sure what a good response to that statement would be but figured if she tried to fight it and Rostagno contacted InGen to complain, they'd be onto her very quickly.

"No, I understand," said Sarah trying to sound sympathetic as she turned to leave. "C'mon Jess, let's go."

Jess looked she wanted to protest that they should force the amber mine overseer to give them more information but seeing the look in Sarah's eyes, she let it go.

"Hey look," said Rostagno before they could leave. "I know you're not here to cause trouble so you can have a souvenir. Maybe it will remind Hammond that there was more to this whole operation than just that island resort of his."

The man walked over to a nearby cart full of what looked like rocks and began rummaging through it.

"Here," he said tossing them an object which Sarah caught. It was a piece of amber. "The last one we found before they closed up shop on us."

Sarah nodded her gratitude and then walked off with her sister back to the jeep. She was grateful for the gift but not entirely sure how it got her any closer to solving the mystery.

"Any of that mean anything to you?" she asked her sister as she handed her the amber piece so she could find her keys.

"Nublar," said Jess in a hushed tone as she studied the fossilized tree sap. "There's something familiar about that word but I have no idea what it is."

Sarah pulled out her notebook and jotted the word down.

"Doesn't ring any bells right now but I'll compare it to the other notes I took about InGen when we get back to the hotel," the older sister remarked as they got into the vehicle.

"Maybe check to see if this means anything either," Jess figured as she handed back the amber to her sister.

"It's just a rock," Sarah said dismissively as she started up the vehicle while inwardly thinking her mysterious contact had just taken her on a wild goose chase. Jess shook her head.

"Look closer," she insisted. Sarah looked at Jess skeptically but nevertheless looked at the fossil. On close inspection she noticed a tiny dot in the middle of the tree sap. Looking even closer, the object began to take form.

Inside the amber was a perfectly preserved mosquito.


	27. Lockdown

San Diego, California: Several minutes of heated discussion between Peter Ludlow, legal representative Daniel Ross, Samantha Brown and Ed Ross who were still on Nublar, and the InGen Executive Board about a variety of business related topics related to the theft of the embryos had caused Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu's eyes to glaze over. Everyone else over the terminals had long since signed off which was why Samantha and Ed were taking the call in the VIP dining lounge. But Jake and Henry were effectively trapped since they were in the same room as Peter Ludlow and he hadn't exactly dismissed them to leave.

But after hearing a Board Member pull out a chart and start discussing financial numbers, Jake about nearly lost it. He rubbed his face vigorously and got up and Henry followed suit.

"Where are you two going?" Ludlow demanded immediately. Jake and Henry took to look at him tired.

"This doesn't have anything to do with us," Henry said truthfully. "We need to head back to the hospital for a final checkup to make sure we're healthy enough to be fully discharged."

"Yes, but where are you planning on going after that?" asked Ludlow pointedly. Jake and Henry look at him curiously.

"Beats me," Jake admitted while showing a smirk. "Just putter around town I guess. Maybe go visit a petting zoo." The scientist continued in a thinly veiled reference to InGen's Kenya facility. He mainly said it to see what Ludlow's response would be. For his part, Ludlow look at him dimly knowing that answer had been on the verge of ignoring his question altogether.

"Very well," he relented before adding, "But I'm afraid that in light of this incident that once you return back to Site B we'll have to put a complete lockdown on our facilities on Sorna and in Kenya. No gets in or out without express permission from the Board."

A look of pure anger and disbelief crossed the faces of the two scientists at being denied access to the Kenyan facility which had been their home for the entire beginning of the Dinosaur Recovery Project.

"Whatever you think is best," said Jake refusing to give him the satisfaction of annoyed sarcasm as he then left the room with Henry trailing after him.

"He's not going to stop us is he?" Henry had to ask as they walked down the hall. Jake shook his head as they entered into the elevator.

"Not a chance. We may not be able to go there right away but we will get there before the fences fail," Jake promised. "In the meantime we have plenty of work to do on Sorna."

The elevator deposited them on the ground floor and the two walked through the lobby and past Stephanie Sandelder who glared daggers at them for embarrassing her in front of the second in command of InGen. The two ignored her and strode right out the doors.

"Do you think we should visit Hammond?" Henry had to ask as they walked to the nearest bus stop. Jake sighed.

"Do _you_ think we should visit Hammond?" he asked back pointedly. Henry looked down at the sidewalk a little downtrodden.

"I thought I did," he began as he looked back up. "But now I wouldn't even know what to say…or where to even begin."

Jake nodded his head in complete agreement and clapped his friend reassuringly on the shoulder. Both winced at the physical pain it caused them as they were still very much on the mend from their ordeal on Nublar. When the bus came, the two boarded it and spent the entire ride back to the hospital completely in silence, lost in their thoughts.

Hammond's Loft: John Hammond, CEO of InGen and still proud of the company he had built, was reading the latest reports about the stolen embryo canister. Inside he was seething over the loss of his precious dinosaurs and his blame primarily resided on Dennis Nedry for the initial and Peter Ludlow for not securing the missing canister while he had the chance.

And to a smaller extent he blamed himself for not being where he needed to be as CEO of his company. If he had been there, things would have been different he told himself. He had made a mistake with Jurassic Park, he admitted that, but he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

But right now was a perilous time for his company. Jurassic Park was about to be demolished and the workers of Indigo were soon to be transferred and merged with those on Sorna. If he was to pick a time for his return, this wasn't it. He had to wait and bide his time and learn everything he could about what had become of his company in his absence as well as where it was going.

The dinosaurs had waited in patience for 65 million years to return to the world at large. He could afford to be patient as well. So when he struck, it would be fast and deadly accurate like the Velociraptors.

Next Day, Indigo: Daniela St. Ives entered into her office and collapsed on her chair in a huff. She had just given what she knew to be one of her final speeches on the island to her workers about their transfer to Sorna in only a few days time. And so she was reviewing her notes on the merger as the sounds of ship horns reached her ears.

Spinning around in her chair, she saw the Anne B. and the SS Venture pull into port. These would pretty much be the last ships inspected on this island and Daniela gave a wistful sigh as she looked out at them. She took out her camera and snapped a photo as a keepsake memento and then went back to reviewing her notes. Several minutes later a knock was heard at her door.

"Mail," said Daniela's secretary as she brought in a bag that had come in on the boat and placed it on her desk. "This is a lot more than you usually get." The secretary partly observed partly complained having had to drag the thing over to her.

Daniela shrugged. "There was some information I needed from the San Jose location that I figured I'd get now before we merge since I don't know what kind of authority I'll have over on Sorna. Or what will become of the San Jose location for that matter."

The secretary just nodded her head, not entirely caring since there was always secretarial work that needed to be done on the islands, and then returned to her desk outside. Inside, Daniela immediately opened the bag and pulling out various envelopes and folders that were full of papers. Those being all the transfer orders that had passed from Costa Rica to Nublar and Sorna over the past several weeks.

Jake and Henry had originally intended on being the ones to figure out who had authorized the transfer of every member of the non-senior staff from Nublar but they became wrapped up in some enigma involving genetics and hadn't been able to focus on the search any longer. But it was still a vital question to helping understand the full story of what had happened that weekend during the tour when Jurassic Park fell apart. And so Daniela had silently vowed to answer that question along with how Nedry had been allowed to smuggle an embryo canister onto the island without being noticed.

Mysteries just tended to abound with these islands, it came with the territory.

Sorna: "What is that?" asked Doc Thorne confused as he looked at a tall cylindrical metal silo that had various antenna and devices covering it that seemed out of place in the jungle surrounding it. "I think that's about the third or fourth we've seen on our tour."

Lori Ruso turned to regard the structure that had paint falling off of it and looked like it was slowly rusting away.

"I think its weather sensing equipment," the Head of Production figured since she wasn't completely sure. "Since we get a lot of storms out here and we're so far west of civilization we can't afford to wait to hear about it on the Costa Rican weather channel because by then it will already have hit us. Sam said we have these scattered across the island to give us a better view of what's going on around us."

"But you're not sure?" Thorne had to ask as he picked up his binoculars and took a closer look at the device.

"Well, no," said Lori as if that should be obvious. "They've got nothing to do with my job. Sam could've told me they detected earthquakes and I'd have believed him. He has no reason to lie to me."

Before Thorne could ask to go see it up close, Levine butted in.

"Who cares about some stupid tower?" he asked incredulously. "I want to see more dinosaurs!"

Lori turned to look at him like he was an impatient child but she nodded her head.

"Okay, let's get going. The T-Rex area is coming up just ahead," she agreed. Levine took off like a shot leaving the rest behind as Gutierrez slow followed after him along with Lori. Thorne stayed behind briefly as he sketched the tower in almost exact detail and then pulled out a map of Sorna and made a note of where this tower was in relation to all the others. He then put both away and followed after the group so they wouldn't notice he was absent.

Nublar: With the dinosaurs finally liquidated from the island, the majority of the workers were taking a well deserved break that morning before the Anne B and the SS Venture arrived. When they arrived, the mercenaries hired by InGen would depart and be replaced by construction workers and equipment that would begin taking apart the physical structures on the island.

But while many of the workers celebrated or rested, one was hard at work. Nicolette Stefrassa, the head of strategic planning on Sorna, was in Henry Wu's office by herself working on his computer. Her breakfast was sitting on a tray beside her as she rarely preferred social gatherings in the company of others, especially with those she didn't know. And so she ate a piece of food here and there as she scanned all the reports she could on the work that had been done on the island so far and what was yet to come.

Next to her was her clipboard and notepad with a large of amount of notes scrawled on the yellow pages of everything she had observed since her time here on the island. And next to it on the table was a mysterious thick report with a blank white page on the front of that gave no indication of what it contained within.

As Nicolette read a new piece of information, she cracked open the report and flipped through the typed pages where various handwritten notes had been added to them. After finding a particular typed line, she wrote down what she had found out and read it in conjunction with other notes on it and other pages.

Shaking her head in disappointment, and perhaps a tinge of fear if she admitted to feeling that emotion, she was about to return to the computer when she noticed a pair of shadows outside of the room. Even despite the door locks that should only open for certain security keys, of which Samantha was currently on her way back to Isla Sorna and Tim was too tied up with work to be coming in here, she still quickly minimized all the programs that were running and powered off the monitor and hid behind some furniture in the room.

After a few moments of mumbled talking, the shadows moved off and Nicolette cautiously returned to her seat. Turning back to the computer she noticed a program running that she had barely paid any attention to when she first started using it. She had .mainly come in here for solitude as Jake and Henry were back on the mainland. That it had already been logged on had been in her favor as it would provide a cover for the work she was doing. While she did hope Jake and Henry recovered soon, the truth was no one would be looking at this computer as long as they were gone and it helped cover her activities from prying eyes.

But as she looked at the program that was running she noticed Mr. DNA in the middle of two DNA strands that were being compared. Looking at the DNA strands and the descriptors that labeled each one, her eyes widened and she immediately cracked open her report and turned to the conclusion section and underline several sentences multiple times along with a single note she wrote in the margins.

_It's started. They know. Get to Kenya._

Worker Village, Isla Sorna: Sheila Matula was outside of the Operations Building toying around with one of the Tour Vehicles that were intended to be the future of transportation on the island. Already track had been laid to all the major destinations such as Embryonics Administration, the Hammond Administration Building, the Field Clinic, the Veterinary Building and various other major areas and more was being laid to the more fringe and remote locations on the island.

But the only way the program would work would be if the tour vehicles could work properly and so that was why the female programmer found herself sitting in the driver's seat of the SUV with her portable terminal plugged into the central console which in turn was remotely connected to the tour program present on the Sorna mainframe. Working on things this way was much more work than just simply sitting at her terminal in the Control Room, but Sheila needed to be out here to clear her head and try not to think about her sister's betrayal.

That her employer Pacific Pharmaceuticals had made off with InGen's most vital property was what really drove her over the edge. Cassie had sworn that she was here to find evidence that Nedry had been bribed by Biosyn to bring them embryos but she'd mentioned nothing about being part of a crew who intended on stealing the embryos for themselves. If that meant her sister had lied to her face about her reasons for being there or that she'd been truthful and her main goal was to acquire information on Nedry and simply omitted the other part, Sheila couldn't bring herself to find out. And so she listlessly and automatically went about pressing various buttons without much awareness of what she was doing.

She was so deep into her funk that she barely registered a pair of fingers being snapped to get her attention. Looking over dimly, she saw Dr. Roberta Carter standing just outside of the vehicle. Her unexpected presence managed to clear the cloud that was hanging over Sheila's head…at least for the time being.

"Hey Bobbie, how're ya doing?" she asked with a slight smile at seeing the doctor in much better shape than she'd heard she was in.

"Been better," Bobbie admitted as she was bandaged in various places. "But I've seen much worse around here and back when I was interning in Chicago for County General Hospital. Being a doctor is not for the faint of heart."

Sheila nodded her head as she noticed something on her display and typed in a line of code which brought up more data scrolling up the screen.

"They fix the clinic?" she asked next, curious. Bobbie nodded her head.

"Those raptors did some damage in there along with the ceiling caving in but it wasn't anything maintenance couldn't put back together," she began. "Hey look, Sheila can I ask you something that's a little private?"

Sheila blew a giant bubble with her gum and then it popped and she brought it back into her mouth.

"Go nuts," was the response as she jotted down some notes about what she saw on her terminal screen compared to the vehicle's video console.

"What do you remember about the day the raptors attacked the clinic? More specifically how it ended?" Bobbie had to ask. Sheila blinked as she tried to remember an event which had only occurred a few days prior. With everything else that had happened in the interim, it felt like much longer.

"Just that there was a lot of chaos and confusion, the rescue team ran into the building, and there was an explosion," she answered truthfully. Bobbie nodded her head.

"You don't remember the PA system going off or anything?" the doctor asked next. She couldn't remember if it had or not but she had a gut instinct that something had been said over the intercom system.

"Not that I can recall. I do remember Samantha Brown saying that she had a plan to get you out of the mess you were in but I don't know what it was. She had some hush-hush conversation with Pete Ludlow and so the connection got knocked out for about five minutes or so and came back on after everything had happened," Sheila revealed, a little distracted by the tour program.

Bobbie looked at her curiously. "The system can do that?" she asked, slightly suspicious. Sheila nodded her head as she popped another bubble.

"Standard stuff," she pointed out. "It just doesn't really get used around here much because we don't have much dealing with the Executive Board. I wouldn't be surprised if more information blackouts occur in the future as they try to figure out what to do with this island."

"Right," said Bobbie nodding her head as she rubbed her eyes. Perhaps she was just jumping at shadows. "Thanks. Anyway, what are you doing out here?"

Sheila looked at her with a melancholy grin. "I just thought I'd work out here in the fresh air and not some stuffy control room."

That statement caused some confusion for Bobbie. Tim and Sheila usually hated field work and preferred to be left alone in the Control Room to their own devices. Although, it was not like she'd gone very far since the Operations Building was right next to them. But since she'd been so zoned out earlier…

"Well if you ever want to talk about it, let me know," Bobbie offered, figuring it was worth a shot. She wasn't a psychologist by trade beyond basic training but she was the only one on the island who could provide such services. ...Unless you were Jake who just tended to dispense unsolicited advice to the nature of your problem that rarely helped.

Sheila gave her a mild look of resentment before it passed and she nodded her head.

"Maybe," she replied, not entirely shooting down the idea.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Before any could say anything else, a Sikorsky Helicopter tore through the air above them and landed on the helipad above the Operations Building. Kevin and Jennifer had gone to pick up Samantha that morning and had just returned with her. After a lone figure disembarked, the helicopter took off headed for the airstrip.

"We should probably head in," Bobbie told Sheila. A meeting was planned for the senior staff with the InGen Board Member about what had happened on Nublar the previous day. Everyone but Lori would be there as she had intentionally led the tour group as far away from the Village as she reasonably could so they wouldn't find out what had happened.

"Right," Sheila agreed as she made some final keystrokes on her terminal and then unplugged it. The vehicle slowly started to move away as she hopped out and headed down the road before making a left into the parking garage as the two headed into the Operations Building.

Tyrannosaurs Area: The team stood staring out at the trees beyond the fence and not seeing a single dinosaur.

"How many are there?" Levine asked, curious as nearby Martin Gutierrez had his notebook ready to record everything he could about these creatures.

"Six, I think," Lori guessed. Gutierrez nearly dropped his pencil at that.

"Six?! Are you sure? Isn't that a little excessive?" he had to ask. Lori shrugged as she looked at the trees.

"I'm only responsible for seeing they get made. I'm not responsible for ordering them so I can't really answer much on that end," she pointed out.

"In that case, can you speculate on why there are so many? I thought all you had to do was just clone a new one if you needed it," Thorne asked trying a different angle. Lori thought about it for a few moments as the occasional dinosaur roar was heard from the distance.

"Well you have to remember that while we can clone them that doesn't mean they'll suddenly go from baby to adult overnight. I think the official line was that if one of those things keeled over on Nublar or wherever else we also had a Jurassic Park, it would be easier to have a full grown one ready to go so we wouldn't disappoint the tourists," she explained. "I mean it's not like we can just find these things anywhere, you know. Zoos have enough problems keeping their animal exhibits stocked and so do we."

"So they're not all fully grown in there?" asked Levine. Lori shook her head.

"Various ages," she answered.

"They ever get into a pissing match with each other?" Levine asked next, hopeful. Lori laughed at that.

"Rarely," she told him. "It happens sometimes when they're eating from the automated food troughs near the center of the area but rarely lasts long."

"Why's that?" asked Gutierrez curious why there weren't more fights.

"Women are better behaved than men," Lori said with a big smile. Levine groaned and rolled his eyes at that.

"Out of curiosity," Thorne began. "Coming from a manufacturing background, where mass producing identical product is the key to survival, I've noticed some clear variances in the dinosaurs within a given species. Is that natural, wastage caused by the cloning process, or some other factor?"

Lori nodded, impressed by his observance. Levine had noticed this too but didn't want to be the one to broach the subject in favor of playing the fool and was glad Thorne had brought it up.

"That's a good question. During the whole process of discovering dinosaur DNA and constantly reviewing our techniques, we came up with a number of ways to better refine the whole operation. This was to provide better and more accurate results both with the cloning process itself and with finding out what the original DNA strands were supposed to be before we introduced frog DNA to make up for the missing pieces," she began. "Because of those changes, we began assigning the batches we cloned product version numbers to be able to distinguish them in case we should ever need to. One might be version 1.1, another 2.4, 3.7, etc. depending on the species and when it was cloned. While there is the occasional genetic variance amongst a batch, the differences are mainly due to product improvement."

Gutierrez felt slightly ill at hearing animals referred to in such mechanical terms but it made complete sense to Levine and Thorne.

"How come they don't come near the fences?" the head of the Becky Doll Corporation asked. "Can't you lure them out here? I read they could do that on Nublar."

"This isn't a carnival side show attraction," the Head of Production said dimly at that notion. "We don't need to see them unless we need to see them. But if you want to view one up close I'll let you in there and you can run up and down the area and see if one will chase you. Back in the day when we only had two or three, sometimes a few workers would do that during off hours to kill time," she revealed. "It ended pretty quickly when one of them got eaten."

That killed Levine's mood and most of the team's appetite. Lori was about to suggest they move on when the ground started shaking.

THOOM…THOOM…THOOOM

Levine's eyes widened with each boom and his expression got more and more excited as Lori looked at the fence curiously before looking behind her and calculating where they were and which way the wind was blowing.

"Ah," she said knowingly.

"What?" asked Gutierrez a little fearful despite the electrified fence in front of them.

"Sometimes when the wind is right they get a whiff of the Spinosaurus," she answered. "They tend not to be on good terms with each other even though none of them have ever crossed paths," she answered before running off. "If you're staying, you might want to cover your ears!"

She was gone down the road as Gutierrez followed suit while Thorne followed at a brisk walk. Levine meanwhile was left awestruck as a Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared, the top of its body poking out from the trees, as it got as close to the fence as it could without touching it. It then took in a deep breathe and let loose with a huge deafening roar.

Operations Building: After a couple minutes of walking, Bobbie and Sheila entered into the auditorium where Sam Stone, Gerry Harding, and Carly Carlson who was here because Jake, Henry, and Lori were elsewhere and hadn't looked like she'd slept in days, were waiting.

"Where's Nicolette?" asked Bobbie curious about the absentee as they both took a seat. If anyone knew how to be punctual, it was her.

"I think she's still on Nublar," Sheila guessed. Probably giving the workers there an earful she thought. Samantha Brown entered into the room and instead of taking her place on the stage on the podium she instead chose to sit on the edge of the stage.

"Is everyone here?" she asked. Sam looked around and nodded his head although he was a little surprised how small the staff had gotten over the period of less than a week.

"Unless you want to remote in those who aren't here," the Head of Operations suggested. Samantha shook her head.

"No, I've already spoken with Nicolette and Tim and will speak with Daniela and Lori when I get the chance. Right now I'm only here to speak in-person about what happened yesterday. Which as I'm sure you're all aware was that a container of dinosaur embryos was taken from the island yesterday by a hostile force," Samantha began as she laid it all out in formal terms.

"This container being whatever it was that Nedry originally planned to smuggle the embryos with?" Gerry asked. Since the Veterinary Clinic had to be more centrally located than the Workers Village, he'd been left a little bit out of the loop of everything that had been going on lately.

"That's right," Samantha confirmed with a nod of her head. "That container had the fifteen species that were currently being displayed on Nublar. I have a list here of what they were but that's not really important," she continued before turning her attention to the female geneticist. "Carly, I hate to put you on the hot seat, but I've heard from Jake and Henry and I'm curious what your thoughts are about how much of a danger having loose embryos is for our company. Call it a second opinion," the Board Member requested. Carly shifted uncomfortably in her seat that not wanting to say something that might be different than her bosses' view of things.

"I'm not really sure what I could add that they couldn't," she admitted even though she had no idea what they'd said. "By now the embryos are no longer viable and with the heat on Nublar, it's probably done a real number on their genetic code."

"That's what they said, please keep going," Samantha insisted.

"Well the only other thing is that whoever was here trying to get those embryos must've known a lot about our operation. And since the embryos aren't viable that means no immediate dinosaurs to breed to make your own stock," Carly continued as she thought more about it. "I'm not aware of any current operations similar to our own so whatever gains whoever took the embryos made, it would've been very small. Not enough to catch up to where we are now anytime soon. And that's even with Jurassic Park having gone to pieces."

Samantha nodded her head and gave a reassuring smile to Carly. "That's exactly what Jake and Henry thought. And that's our conclusion as well. But all the same we're going to do our best to try and recover those embryos from whoever took them." She finished, all the while wondering that if what Jake, Henry, and Carly had claimed was true why someone would take them in the first place.

"So then what does that mean going forward?" asked Sam needing to know for the future of operations on the island. Samantha sighed, now having gotten to the main reason she was here.

"That's where the bad news begins," the Board Member began. "Now that Jurassic Park is finally going to be demolished and everyone from Indigo is coming here that means InGen can now finally turn its attention back to what started this mess in the first place: Nedry's attempt to smuggle embryos off the island. That means we'll be questioning people of interest over the coming weeks and months."

That drew concerned glances from the staff at each other about having to deal with this on top of everything else.

"Is this the equivalent of a witch hunt?" Gerry asked pointedly. Samantha shook her head.

"That's not what it's intended to be but I don't blame you if you think otherwise," she confessed. "We want to believe that Nedry acted alone in his actions. But we can't run the risk that he didn't. We got lucky that those embryos are no longer viable but without a working Jurassic Park we're still not out of the woods if a viable embryo were to be stolen at some point in the future.

That, unfortunately brings me to my main point for being here today…" Samantha continued, somewhat downtrodden. Her change in demeanor got the group's full attention as they each sat up to listen to what she had to say.

"Because of what happened with the embryos being stolen, because we don't know if Nedry was acting along, because of the danger of losing a viable embryo, it means that some changes are going to have to made around here," Samantha began sadly. "The first of which is that as soon as Jurassic Park is demolished and Indigo's staff comes here, Site B will be placed under permanent lockdown procedures for the foreseeable future."

Protests erupted across the room at that before Sam got up and held his hands out to quiet them.

"For those of us who haven't read the employee manual in awhile," said Sam for the benefit of those who hadn't and were just reacting to the term 'lockdown'. "What exactly does that entail?"

Samantha sighed more deeply than before. "It means that no one will be allowed off this island without first going to the management staff of Sam and-if she wants to be included-Daniela, who will hear your case and then choose whether or not to send it San Diego where it will then have to have the expressed approval from the Board of Directors. And you wouldn't be allowed to take anything with you that wasn't approved either. That means no more of your unscheduled trips to the United States or Costa Rica and no vacation time either. Plus all communication with the outside world that isn't InGen San Diego is also restricted without prior approval. For anyone who wants onto this island, they have to be cleared by the Board of Directors. "

Angry protests now came forth from the senior staff.

"This is bullshit, you can't keep us prisoners here! What happens if we want to resign?" Bobbie demanded. Samantha shook her head.

"You can quit if you want and we will let you leave," she admitted. "But I have to warn you that anyone who quits now will be viewed very suspiciously by the Board of Directors. And it won't get you out of questioning." She added. That got the attention of the Staff and helped quiet some of the outbursts, although grumbling could still be heard.

"How is this even allowable?" Carly found herself asking, feeling out of her depth amongst the rest of the senior staff. "I mean we're all Americans here don't we have rights?"

"Yes and no," answered Samantha noncommittally with a bob of her head. "For starters, this isn't the United States it's Costa Rica. But before you took this job you were asked to review the employee policy code before signing it. Part of those policies included the possibility of a lockdown of Sites A, B, and C should certain circumstances arise. They have."

Gerry Harding shifted in his seat upon hearing that. "Yeah, if the Board decides to lock them down on a whim," he mentioned under his breath. Whether that was true or not, Samantha chose not dignify that comment with a response. Sheila meanwhile had been silent for most of the ordeal as besides Carly, she was the youngest one in the room by a few years.

"How could you do this to us?" she asked quietly of the Head of Human Resources feeling betrayed. It was obvious that Jake despised the entire Board of Directors for things reasonable and unreasonable. But for the rest of the staff, they tried to keep a more level headed mind at being given orders from individuals who were miles and miles away and never seemed to fully understand what was going on here.

But the one Board Member they all respected, even Jake if begrudgingly, was Samantha Brown. She was the one who stood up for them whenever the Board had unreasonable ideas in mind for the staff. She was also the one who tried to make their lives as comfortable as was possible being on a tropical island far away from home where amenities were somewhat scarce and communication often wasn't possible thanks to the non-disclosure agreements they had signed.

"I tried my best to argue against it," Samantha admitted, downtrodden about the whole thing. "I told Peter and the rest of the Board that Nedry had to have acted alone and that there was no way anyone on this island could have had anything to do with it. But he still overruled me. I considered threatening to resign to get him to back off but if he called my bluff you'd all have been much worse off," she further confessed without a hint of aggrandizing in her tone. The staff was each a little touched by her devotion to them.

"But I think we all have to face facts on one important issue," the Board Member continued in all seriousness. "Things are only going to get worse around here leading up to the unveiling of Jurassic Park: San Diego. Those dinosaurs aren't going anywhere and every day you get closer to the day those fences fail is going to seem like the longest day of your life. Supplies are going to run low, increased isolation coupled with lack of steady work is probably going to drive some people stir crazy and cause tempers to flare, the temperature will probably rise also as we get further into summer, the tropical storms are only going to increase as well. That plus whatever else is going to go wrong in these next couple of months is something you and everyone else have to be physically and mentally prepared for," she warned.

Things along those lines hadn't even occurred to any of the staff until Samantha brought it out into the open. That was why it had become completely quiet in the room.

"Now there is one silver lining," Samantha went on with a mild smile. "Per company bylines, as long as this island is under lockdown, no one here will be affected by layoffs. Call it slight compensation for what I just mentioned."

That at least got some slight relief out of the group.

"But make no mistake about it," Samantha concluded again completely serious. "In the coming days, this island is going to turn from a lost world into a living hell."


	28. The Final Days of Isla Nublar

Indigo: A helicopter tore through the air above the island before circling around the port with the SS Venture and Anne B. Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu had cleared by the hospital that morning but they'd been too late to ride either boat out here but Peter Ludlow, eager to be rid of them, had a charter flight sent to Indigo where they could then take the boats on to Nublar. As soon as the chopper landed in front of the Visitors Center, an identical version of the one on Nublar, they disembarked and found themselves facing Daniela St. Ives.

"Hey Danno, come to give us a personal strip search?" asked Jake with a wicked grin on his face. Daniela shook her head at him.

"Cavity searches from the staff," she snapped. Jake gave a look of mock horror as Henry chuckled to himself. Daniela then smiled despite herself and draped an arm over both of them.

"It's good to see you two both alive," she admitted. "I heard you took a wicked spill back on Nublar."

"You don't know the half of it," Henry informed her as he rotated his arm and winced slightly at the pain. "We'll need painkillers for the next week or so but at least its standard aspirin and not something heavier like morphine."

"Well, that's good. Especially with us getting fewer and fewer supplies as the days go on," Daniela pointed out as she led the up the steps to the front of the building.

"Plus the island going on lockdown," Jake grumbled. Daniela nodded her head as she was about to push open the doors.

"Yeah, I-," said began before what Jake had said finally hit her and she stopped in her motion. "WHAT?!" she then exclaimed, shocked.

Henry and Jake looked at her confused before realizing she didn't know. Each then took on the look of a guilty child who had confessed to something before being accused.

"Didn't Samantha have a chance to speak to you yet?" Henry asked, curious. Daniela silently shook her head.

"Whoops," said Henry scratching the back of his head nervously. "Maybe it's better if you didn't mention that we told you."

Daniela rested her hands on the giant oak doors for a moment.

"She said she was going to talk to me later today," she told them. "But I knew something had to be wrong because I spoke with Sam not too long ago about you guys coming and he seemed really distracted."

She then shoved the doors open and the two walked into the lobby where the skeleton of the brachiosaurus was being 'attacked' by the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus and above was the banner reading "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth".

"So what you think that means for the future?" Daniela asked next as she escorted the two to her office.

"Same shit, different day," Jake figured, optimistically and pessimistically. Daniela walked around her desk and took a seat in it before she started fishing around in one of her desk drawers for something.

"Not entirely true, you'll be with us now," Henry pointed out to her. Jake's expression turned to faux-terror at hearing that.

"The horror!" he said melodramatically. Daniela laughed at that as she pulled out a box of latex gloves and put two of them on.

"I suppose making your life miserable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, will probably make up for being stuck on Sorna," she agreed. "Alright, boys, let's see 'em."

Henry immediately put his travel case on her desk as Jake looked at her annoyed.

"Why should we have to show them now?" he asked. "We're going to be under lockdown so it's not like anything we take in there is going to be leaving Site B, anyway."

Daniela shook her head at him. "I take my job very seriously. Even if you're not carrying contraband, all we need is one foreign contaminant onto that island the whole ecosystem could fall apart. Or have you forgotten about the DX Virus?"

Jake finally placed his luggage on her desk and crossed his arms.

"That was a contaminant specific to the ground up meat we were using to feed the dinosaurs, not a foreign object that was brought in that did the damage," he pointed out. Daniela was sifting through Henry's stuff as she did nod her head.

"True," she admitted as she looked up at him. "Unauthorized food on the other hand…"

Jake scowled at her. "That was Henry's mango! I was just holding it for him."

"Like hell it was!" said Henry incredulously. "Although why that's on the banned list I can only wonder…"

"Everything has a reason," Daniela pointed out as she finished looking through Henry's stuff and began looking through Jake's. "Like E.L.E. for instance."

Both scientists immediately snapped out of their lighthearted mood and focused on her with deadly seriousness.

"What about E.L.E.?" Jake asked his voice dripping with venom at the subject having been brought up without warning.

"Weeks ago on my last trip to Sorna when there was first talk about merging the staff of the two islands Samantha was going to explain it to me but never got the chance. I have my meeting with her later today about the lockdown and I think she's going to bring that up as well," Daniela told them as she finished going through Jake's things and closed up their bags. "You boys are the ones who know the most about it and so I want to know too before I can be prepared before I go into my meeting."

"But you already know what E.L.E. is," Henry told her. "You were given a briefing on what it was when you first took your position here."

"I know the basics of what it is but I'd like to know the whole picture," Daniela requested.

Jake softly shook his head as Henry did as well.

"Sorry, but we can't tell you," Jake revealed. "E.L.E. is highly classified. Samantha's willing to tell you and that's her decision, but it's not really something to bring up in casual conversation."

"But I've talked about it with Sam on multiple occasions," Daniela protested.

"Yeah, but while he knows all the details about E.L.E. he knows you don't," Henry pointed out. "Has he ever brought up the subject with you?"

Daniela had to think about that for a few moments…and realized in surprise that he hadn't.

"You want to know about E.L.E. now, but once you know you're going to wish you didn't," Henry continued sympathetically. "When you find out all the details, you'll be shocked, confused, angry, upset...the whole nine yards. But you're not going to talk about it to anybody who doesn't already know. Not because that's company policy, which it is, but because you won't want to pass the burden of what you'll know onto anyone else. And for those that do know, you won't speak much of it to them unless you have no choice because you'll know how much a burden it is to keep that secret inside yourself."

Total silence fell over the room following Henry's confession.

"Attention….attention," came a voice from the loud speaker startling them. "The boats will be leaving in thirty minutes. If you plan on boarding, please be aboard no later than fifteen minutes before departure."

Rather than say anything more, Jake and Henry quietly collected their things and headed back to the door so they wouldn't miss their boat trip.

"At least tell me something," Daniela pleaded as Jake was about to open the door to her office. "Not as a coworker but as a friend."

Jake sighed heavily as he placed his hand on the doorknob. But he then slowly nodded his head and turned to face her.

"Are you familiar with the K-T Event?" he asked. Daniela shook her head.

"No," she admitted at a loss.

"Look it up. Maybe that will provide some answers that we can't," the scientist offered. "Bye Daniela, we'll see each other again soon. You ever want a tour of the genetics labs, don't hesitate to ask."

Henry flashed her a quick smile. "And I know E.L.E. sounds bad but look at this way. Things will only get better once Jurassic Park: San Diego takes off because then you'll go back to Indigo and won't have to think about it anymore. Anyway, we'll catch you later."

"Yeah, later," said the Head of Indigo softly as Jake and Henry left the room. Even despite Henry's reassurance, she was left with more questions and concerns than ever before.

Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Dr. Roberta Carter was in the reception room discussing the lockdown situation with her staff when the front doors were pushed open and Lori Ruso and the investigation team walked in.

"Hey LoRu," said Bobbie with a smile at seeing her good friend again and glad she didn't know anything about the lockdown yet. "What brings you this way?"

"We have need of your excellent services," Lori began before pointing at Levine who was covering his ears. "This idiot over here decided to stand in front of a rex when it roared at him on full blast."

Bobbie looked at the nurses and snapped her fingers before pointing at Levine. The nurses walked over and helped him towards the examination rooms.

"I can still hear you," Levine growled at Lori before scrunching up in pain. He was then ushered into the back and out of sight.

"We'll give him ointment and he should be okay in a few hours," the Doctor answered. "How's the tour going so far?"

"It's going alright," Lori figured. "It helps pass the time. Plus seeing their reactions to the dinosaurs helps remind me just how impressive this whole project really is. The DX Virus aside, for me it sort of became mundane a couple years back after we got most of the bugs worked out of the system."

"I know how you feel," Bobbie agreed. "Although we usually don't have the luxury of seeing incoming patients with the exact same injuries as a previous one if you catch my drift."

Lori nodded her head, grateful she wasn't in Bobbie's line of work. She excused herself to use the restroom as Gutierrez went off to go question the staff about the things they had seen over the years happen to the workers. That left her alone with Doc Thorne.

"You're the mechanical expert right?" Bobbie asked of him, an idea formulating in her mind. Thorne gave him a mild grin.

"I dabble," he admitted lightly, which reminded him that his prototype Mercedes was still impounded on Indigo. He had heard Samantha Brown had returned to Sorna and he made a mental note to ask her about when he'd be getting it back.

"You mind if I asked your opinion on something?" Bobbie requested. Thorne nodded his head.

"Shoot," he said amicably. Bobbie led Thorne down the corridor headed towards the place where the Raptor had confronted her and her memory was still a fog over what had happened. If anyone could give her a straight answer, she knew it would be him. If he could figure out what had actually happened...

Dominican Republic: Jess Harding was jumping on the bed in the hotel room while blasting out rock music from her walkman. Nearby Sarah Harding was at the desk tried to concentrate on her notes about InGen.

"Whee! Hey Sarah, get up here this is fun!" Jess insisted gleefully. Sarah turned to look at her sister with annoyance.

"Get off that bed before you break it!" she yelled at her briefly before returning to the desk. "I swear, this is the last time I give you coffee in the morning without having any rope to tie you down afterwards."

Jess jumped on it a couple more times before hopping off while also shutting down her walkman.

"So what're you doing?" the younger Harding sister asked as she pulled up a chair and looked at the pages on the desk.

"Paperwork," the older sister responded as she flipped some pages in her notebook and after reading what she had written she then consulted the pages with printed text on them.

"Paperwork? Blech," said Jess disgusted. "Why do you have to do that, that's boring! Let's go somewhere new and find out more things!"

"Paperwork is an important part of the research process," Sarah reminded her, "Doing the appropriate legwork before, during, and after an adventure means avoiding hours of wasted time, headaches, and frustration. But if you have a place you think we can go then I'm all ears."

Jess didn't have an answer so she instead placed her head in her hands.

"So what brought you here then?" she wondered, curious. "Teach me the ways of the paperwork master!"

Sarah went silent at that. She'd hoped to avoid that question altogether as she didn't like being led around by a mysterious informant. She preferred to do her own work and come to her own conclusions and follow them through. The way it was going now was only leading down a dangerous path.

"Sarah? Hello?" asked Jess waving her hand in front of her face to get her to snap out of her reverie. "What's going on?"

Sarah sighed and turned to look at her sister. "If you want to know how I knew the amber mine was here, I had to do a lot of research on InGen to find that out. But if you want to know how I knew to come here…someone told me," she finally admitted aloud. Jess took a moment to digest that piece of information.

"You mean like a guy in a trench coat?" she asked. That wasn't exactly the case since her mysterious information had never bothered to conceal his physical appearance, but Sarah nodded her head anyway.

"Cool!" said Jess nodding her head. "This is getting more exciting all the time!"

"That's not the point!" said Sarah exasperated. "The point is we have to be smarter than him. And paperwork helps gives us the edge. I don't want to leave dad's survival to a stranger, do you?"

Jess immediately shook her head vigorously.

"I knew I could count on you," Sarah said, pleased which she ruffled her sister's hair. She then picked up a stack of papers and handed it to her sister. "This is a list of all of InGen's major operations. While I try and track down the name 'Nublar', I want you to look at these and think what connection they might have to our mysterious piece of amber. Got it?"

"Aye-firmative!" said Jess with a salute as she dove into the paperwork. Sarah smiled briefly at her sister's newfound enthusiasm before getting back to work.

Nublar: The Anne B. arrived at the West Docks as the SS Venture pulled in to the East Docks. As soon as the ramp lowered on the Venture, Jake and Henry headed down it to find Ed Regis waiting for them.

"Hey Ed-o," said Jake with a smile. "I knew Jurassic Park would have VIP service one day for its workers. Too bad it's only at the end of its life."

Ed shook his head at Jake's comments. "I'm here to see that you take it easy during your time here. Besides, at this point the operation is practically running itself since the dinosaurs are gone. The Visitors Center and all the other buildings have had all the small doodads and knick knacks boxed up so really the only thing left is to demolish the physical structures."

Heavy construction vehicles were being offloaded from the ship and as soon as each one hit the dock, a worker boarded it and drove it off into the jungle.

"Not my office I hope," said Henry with a smile intended to not show how anxious he was to see what the search he had run had come up with. "I've got stuff in there I need."

Ed Regis held up his hands in surrender. "Your office was left alone until you returned to finish up in there. Although I do want to warn you that if you're doing anything with your computer in there that you might want to make it quick. Tim said he's shutting down the mainframes soon."

"Got it," said Henry as the three of them boarded a jeep with Ed behind the wheel who then drove the vehicle drove off into the jungle.

"Hey, check this out!" said Ed mischievously as he wound down his window. Jake and Henry stared at him, knowing they were still in dilophosaurus territory.

But no venom globs came and soon Jake and Henry rolled down their windows and looked out at the devastation that had been wrought to ensure this was possible.

"They sure did a number on this place," Jake observed in reference to the destruction caused by the dilos and the workers.

"Guess that means we're not getting back the security deposit," Henry quipped in response. "So what is going to happen to this island anyway?"

"We're selling it back to the Costa Rican government at a loss," Ed answered. "But at least we won't have to keep paying off the lease for an island we're no longer using."

Henry nodded his head as he looked at the window and realized this might be the last time he'd ever see Jurassic Park again.

"What's going to happen to all the physical assets on Indigo?" asked Henry curious. He vaguely recalled having heard something back when the staffs were going to be merged, but he'd since forgotten.

"We're just going to clean out the warehouses. We're selling all the fuel and computer electronics parts and shipping whatever else is in there to you guys on Sorna. But otherwise we'll leave all the remaining physical structures and everything within them as they are. Hopefully soon after Jurassic Park: San Diego launches in a couple of months Daniela and her staff can return there," Ed answered. "At least, that's the plan for now."

Henry nodded his head but otherwise said nothing.

"Did the Costa Ricans express any concerns about Sorna?" Jake asked as he stared off at the trees passing by.

"A little, but since Sorna is a lot farther away from their shores than Nublar, they're willing to let go of any major concerns," Ed answered as the vehicle passed by the spot where Nedry's jeep had been lodged but was no longer there.

"We'll give him a proper burial," Ed admitted. "Not that he deserves it."

The vehicle drove out of dilophosaur territory and through the gateway of an electrified fence that was already being taken apart by workers and construction equipment.

"Anybody call asking about him?" Jake wondered. Ed shook his head.

"No. Although we did make some pre-emptive calls warning some people not to even think about bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against us or else we'd sue them for the damages Nedry caused here," Ed told him. The vehicle then was on the main tour road headed for the large wooden gates.

"Did Ludlow say if there was anything special planned to commemorate this island?" Henry asked as his next question. The vehicle raced past the gates and headed towards the Visitors Center whose domes were visible above the trees surrounded by several cranes.

"Yeah, actually, he's coming to give a speech right before they tear down the main gate as the last thing to be carted out of here," Ed answered as he pulled up to the front of the main complex. "That'll be in a couple days, I think, depending on how fast things go here. The senior staffs of Sorna and Indigo are expected to be present here and it'll be broadcasted to everyone else on Sorna, San Diego, and Kenya."

Jake and Henry nodded their heads as they exited the vehicle.

"I don't think I'll be seeing you guys again anytime soon," Ed admitted. "So you take care. Don't find yourself facing the sharp end of a dinosaur."

Jake and Henry laughed at that. "No promises. Bye, Ed!" they both said as the Head of P.R. drove off. The two then immediately marched up the steps, each eager to learn what the DNA Comparison program had come up with.

As they walked in, they noticed the technicians being gathered in the largely cleaned up lobby that now absent two dinosaur skeletons and a hanging banner.

"Jake, Henry!" Tim called from the front of the group. "Ha, ha, I knew you guys would be alright!" the programmer exclaimed as he walked up to them.

"Thanks. Did you get everything squared away with the computers here?" asked Henry curious. Tim nodded his head.

"Yeah, we've got one last round of programming to knock out and then I'm shutting down the servers and the mainframes," Tim told them. "Something up?"

Jake nodded his head. "We're running a program in Henry's office that's not going to be completed for another day or two. Is there anyway to speed up the process or hold off on delaying the shutdown?" he asked. Tim looked at them as if this was the first time he was aware of the programming running in Henry's office and desperately hoped his expression appeared genuine.

"Well we can't really delay it because this building's got to come down and those computers needed to be headed back San Diego to be wiped and sold," Tim began uneasily. But he knew Samantha needed the program to completely finish. "But since we're not really using the mainframes for anything now, I should be able to let you tap directly into the processing power of the mainframes," he conceded. "That should speed up the process. But if it's not done today…"

"Oh, it should be," Henry insisted immediately. "We'll get back to it right now so if you could patch us in, we'd appreciate it."

Tim nodded his head at them and the two scientists waved goodbye and headed off. As they walked past the technicians, at the very edge closest to them was Cassie Matula who had to rely on her entire espionage training to not tense up when they walked up to her. They had seen her and the rest of her team in San Jose and if they recognized her now then the whole operation could still be a bust.

But instead the two scientists moved past her like they didn't even notice she was amongst the crowd. To that, Cassie breathed a small sigh of relief as Tim herded them back towards the Control Room.

After they had gone a few more steps, Henry turned his head towards Jake. "Did you, uh, notice-," he began cryptically before nodding his head back towards the programmers.

"Yeah," answered Jake simply and very much not pleased at who he had seen. "Do you think we should do something about it?"

Henry only needed a moment to come up with his answer. "Maybe later but right now we've got more important things to do."

The two scientists headed up the stairs as workers entered into the building with tools, ready to tear the place apart. From the shadows, Nicolette watched them go on their way before noticing the workers pouring in. She clutched her clipboard closer to her and departed off down the hallway intent on locating whatever remaining scraps of information she could before Jurassic Park was no more.

Field Clinic, Sorna: Thorne was looking at the newly repaired ceiling above the hallway where Bobbie had encountered the Raptor. He noted some subtle imperfections which clued him in to what part of the ceiling had fallen and were then replaced.

"I've also got this for you to look at," said Bobbie as she appeared from a side office with a piece of the original ceiling tile. "I was able to ask one of my hospital staff to hide it before the maintenance crews came out."

Thorne didn't even bother asking why she being so duplicitous with hiding her concerns about what had happened from the rest of the island. He'd been called in to investigate enough industrial 'accidents' over the years to know that he was better off just giving his analysis of what had happened and not to ask potentially dangerous questions.

So without saying a word he examined the ceiling tile briefly before nodding his head and handing it back.

"From what I can tell the damage was caused by the ceiling exploding," he answered. Bobbie had to narrowly avoid sighing or rolling her eyes. She'd known all that already.

But it was Thorne said next that threw her off balance. "Exploding outwards, I should say," he added. The female doctor threw him a complete look of surprise at that revelation.

"Outwards, you're sure?" she asked, needing to make sure he wasn't wrong in his assessment. Thorne nodded as he pointed to the tile.

"There's burn marks and small pieces of shrapnel embedded only in the side of the tile that doesn't face the floor," he began before pointing to the ceiling. "Also, judging by the edges where the tiles tore loose, it definitely looks like it came down and not up and then down if there was an explosion in the hallway instead," he concluded. "Course, if you'll forgive the pun, you're more than welcome to a second opinion."

"No," said Bobbie abruptly. "I mean, no, I have no reason to doubt you," she continued calmer. "What could've done this damage, though?"

Thorne looked around the area and noted where small scratches existed on the nearby walls from the tiles raining down.

"Well assuming it wasn't one big coincidence involving electricity, I'd guess a small explosive charge wired into the area above the tile," he told her. Bobbie was stunned by that.

"But you can't know for sure?" she asked. As a doctor she knew the importance of trying to be one hundred percent when giving a diagnosis.

"Not without popping a tile and looking up there," Thorne replied. "Out of curiosity, do you know what's up there?"

Bobbie looked up. "The HVAC system, I think. Plus some wires to power the lights. Otherwise everything else is either in the walls or the floor."

Thorne nodded. "So there wouldn't be much reason for anyone to be up there without approval." He said softly to himself. Bobbie was about to question him further when Lori appeared.

"Hey you two," the Head of Production said. "Levine's slowly getting his hearing back so I figured we'd head on out."

"Sure," said Bobbie a little distracted by her problems. Lori looked at her and then the area again and finally at the ceiling.

"Oh, I see," she said knowing where they were. "I'm really glad you survived that attack Bobbie. Yikes."

Bobbie gave a slight smile at that. "Me too. Anyway, go ahead you guys have fun."

"We'll try," Lori snorted. Thorne gave Bobbie a sympathetic look before following the tour guide down the hall. As soon as they were gone, the doctor looked up at the ceiling and wondered what was really hidden beyond its white pockmarked surface. Shivering briefly, from the memories of being in this hall with the raptor or from her own suspicions of what lay beyond the tiles, she headed off down the hall to get as far away as she could.

Control Room, Sorna: Sheila was typing away on her computer trying to figure out what her sister had been up to on Nublar when Samantha Brown came into the room.

"Can I help you?" the programmer asked. Samantha shook her head.

"Yes, but not in the way you might like," the Board Member began. "I need you to leave the room."

Sheila just stared at her. "Umm…okay," she said confused. "For how long because I'm in the middle of something right now," which was completely true because as soon as Tim shut down the mainframes and the servers, it'd be difficult if not impossible to find out what she needed to.

"I'm not sure," Samantha confessed. "For right now take a break and then find something you can do outside of the lab."

"But I-," began Sheila when a questioning look from Samantha silenced her. She couldn't tell the reasons for wanting to stay because it might mean Cassie could get caught.

"Yes, ma'am," the female programmer said defeated as she took her portable terminal and left the room.

"She'll be fine," said Tim distractedly on the main screen as he continued to work on the servers and mainframes.

"What was she working on?" asked Samantha curious looking at her terminal but just seeing lines of code that meant nothing to her.

"Pet project maybe, I don't know," the male programmer on Nublar responded dismissively. "Is it important?"

"No," Samantha admitted as she took her seat. "It's just that she's seems more distracted lately."

Tim snorted at that. "We all have. I think you warned me about that before you left what, with the…well, you know," he said in reference to the imminent lockdown of Sorna. Samantha nodded her head and briefly rubbed her face to try and relieve some of the stress she was feeling.

"I suppose you're right," she agreed, not wanting to think about Sheila's actions on top of everything else that was going on. "So what is the situation with Jake and Henry?"

Tim wasn't happy to be talking about the two scientists behind their backs, but he was still under an Executive Mandate from Samantha.

"They're up in Henry's office," Tim answered. "They mentioned needing to finish a program they were running and I offered to use the processing power of the mainframes here to hurry it up."

"Great, that'll make things easier than having to somehow find a way to delay the deconstruction," said Samantha relieved. "So can you patch me into their computer?"

Tim shifted uneasily at her request. "Can I? Yes. Do I want to? No. Please don't make me," he pleaded. "I promise I'll give you the results but…"

Samantha gave him a quick shake of her head. "No, Tim. Remote me in, now."

"I officially want to protest," Tim requested.

"Noted," said the female Board Member coolly but didn't say anything else. Tim sighed and pressed some keys on his keyboard and Samantha's screen changed from the UNIX desktop to what was being displayed on Henry's computer on Nublar. As she noticed, the DNA checking program had accelerated considerably since she had first seen it when it was running solely off the terminal.

"Just don't touch or move the mouse or anything because they'll see it on their screen," Tim requested and then returned to his work. For her part, Samantha silently nodded her head and sat back in her chair and watched the DNA strands continue to be compared.

Henry's Office, Nublar: "I think Nicolette was in here," Jake figured. Henry turned to stare at his friend.

"And what makes you say that?" he asked dimly. Jake picked up a cup on Henry's desk which was full of pens.

"There's a pen missing," the scientist answered. Henry looked at the cup and then rolled his eyes.

"You always think Nicolette is stealing pens," Henry told his fellow scientist, "Part of some 'master plan' to wreak havoc on Sorna when her department has all the pens so she can then make herself ruler of the island. Yeah, right."

"B-but she did take all the pens once!" Jake reminded him acting innocent.

"Yeah, because she claimed that she read a study somewhere that workplace efficiency might be linked to the number of pens that go missing for personal use. She said multiple times her team was going to be going across the island counting them," Henry recalled.

"Sure," said Jake not believing her motives. "And did we hear about the results of her survey? Noooo."

"That's because she accused you of sabotaging the survey when you-," began Henry annoyed when suddenly the computer dinged. "Oh, look the comparison's done." The scientist continued nonchalantly as if his previous anger at Jake hadn't happened.

The comparison revealed that nothing was different between the CD master record and the record on file with Nublar.

"I suppose you're relieved now," Henry told Jake. The scientist shook his head.

"The complete opposite, now I feel worse than ever," Jake told him ominously.


	29. The Day A Dream Began To Die

Henry's Office, Nublar: "And what makes you say that?" Henry asked. While part of him wanted to think Jake was just slightly paranoid-genuinely or not-about everything, that typically wasn't the case when it came to his chosen field: genetics.

"I can't put my finger on it exactly," Jake conceded, knowing what his friend was thinking. "But the codes shouldn't be exactly the same even if nothing suspicious is going on."

Henry's eyes narrowed as he considered the results. He then looked down at this binder which was full of CDs indicating the animal species along with the DNA code version. He then looked up at the computer screen and down at the discs and then slowly an idea starting forming in his mind.

"Henry, what version was on the disc you ran?" Jake asked, coming to the same conclusion his friend was drawing.

"The latest T-Rex version on file, 4.1," Henry answered. Jake nodded as he looked at the computer screen.

"But if I remember correctly, when Hammond decided he wanted to cover up the existence of Site B and make it seem like Nublar was where we made the dinosaurs, in order to make the computer screens seem legitimate we ported over the DNA stands for the fifteen dinosaurs that were going to be here," Jake continued with his line of thought. "But that was six months ago when we did that."

A pit began forming in Henry's stomach. "Which would mean the latest code on file here should be Version 3.7 or earlier with it most likely being 3.5. Not 4.1," the scientist said in turn. "Unless when Tim connected Nublar with Sorna a couple weeks back, the system here updated itself with the new code."

Jake slowly shook his head. "I'll admit I don't know much about how computers work, but I can't imagine it'd do that without someone actually making it happen. Someone deliberately put the most recent version on here, the question is why."

Henry was thinking of an answer for that when the phone started ringing, startling them both.

"Yo," said Jake into it after picking up the headset.

"Hey, Jake," said Tim on the other end, his voice slightly shaky. "Look, I don't mean to pry but I noticed the CPU usage just decreased over here which means your program has finished. Did you get everything you needed because I really need to shut down the mainframes," the programmer pointed out. Jake looked to Henry who had a disappointed look on his face that they were about to be circumvented from uncovering some part of the truth about what was happening.

Unfortunately, they had no legitimate reason to delay the shutdown without revealing why. "Do it," said Jake slightly disgusted as well while Tim mumbled his thanks and Jake hung up the phone. Henry closed down the DNA program and ejected the disc and put it away before reclosing the tray and then shutting down the computer.

"I suppose in the long run if we do find out somebody deliberately screwed with the code then they were the ones probably responsible for uploading 4.1 onto here," Henry pointed out as the two gathered their things.

"Yeah, but it'd be nice to know if we weren't just jumping at shadows," Jake grumbled. He got up and helped Henry collect whatever he needed from the office and put them all into their baggage. As they headed for the door, they both paused briefly before Henry turned off the lights.

"You gonna miss this place?" asked Jake, curious. Henry looked at the now mostly empty office.

"A little bit," he admitted, "You?"

"Well it's not my office plus I was never really here that much," Jake joked lightly before turning serious. "But yeah, I will. I thought Hammond was crazy building a theme park in the middle of nowhere but his enthusiasm about the whole thing definitely sold me on the idea."

"Me too," said Henry sadly. "Me too."

He shut off the lights and the two left the room for the final time.

Control Room, Sorna: Samantha Brown was staring at the results of the DNA strand comparison while wondering what Jake and Henry had made of the results…and why they were comparing them in the first place. But she couldn't come up with any ideas because genetics was a complete mystery to her.

"Well they're done," said Tim over the videolink. "So now I need to shut down the servers and the mainframes. With your approval of course."

"The means no more communications?" asked Samantha tapping a pen against her notebook.

"Not with the vidlink or the landline phones here. But we will have our satellite phones and the radio linkup to stay in contact," Tim reminded her. "If you'll excuse me."

"Right," Samantha agreed, knowing it had to be done. "But…keep an eye out on Jake and Henry if you can."

Tim didn't respond to that, he just gave a soft sigh and then nodded his head and the vidscreen shut off and then the picture on her computer was restored to normal. Samantha watched the darkened screen for a few moments before jotting down some observations in her notebook.

"Hey, Samantha," said Sam as the door opened. "We've informed practically everyone on the island about the lockdown but now it's time for your official speech to us."

Samantha nodded her head and put her notebook back into her satchel and then ran her fingers through her hair a couple of times to straighten it. She then pulled out her compact and did some brief touchup to the makeup on her face and then closed it.

"Out of the frying pan," she quipped as she followed Sam outside. As soon as they were in the hall, Samantha looked around the area.

"Seen Sheila?" Samantha asked of Sam who shook his head. "I wanted to apologize to her because I needed her to leave the room while Tim and I worked on something." She told him.

"Worry about that later, I guess," Sam pointed out bluntly. Samantha nodded her head and the two walked down the hall. The two walked back upstairs and passed the reception desk near the Jurassic Park mural and then entered into the auditorium where some workers were sitting awaiting her speech. On the stage, the TV camera setup had also been put in place and a microphone was attached to the podium and the Board Member wasted no time in walking up to it and thumbing the switch on the podium to activate the camera and microphone.

"Hello everyone, if you don't remember who I am, my name is Samantha Brown and I'm InGen's Head of Human Resources," Samantha began. "I'm sure by now most of you have heard either from your superiors or through the grapevine about what I'm going to tell you. Let me just say first, that I intentionally told only the senior staff about it and had them spread the word because I'd rather you heard about it from someone you trust rather than just as an order from the Board.

So let me just come right out and say it. What you heard is true. In less than a week this island is going to be put under permanent lockdown," Samantha began as the workers in the room stirred uneasily at her statement.

In her room, Sheila Matula was working on her portable terminal in conjunction with her desktop computer as she listened to her TV which was displaying Samantha's speech. The programmer was feverishly typing away either on one computer, the other, or sometimes both at once as she tried to download as much information about her sister's actions on Nublar before Tim killed the servers.

"C'mon, Tim, don't guess which is the right key for the first time…," Sheila muttered under her breath. On Nublar, Tim was trying to unlock the security grate to allow him access to the switches that would shut off the computer system but was being stopped by the fact that every key he tried turned out to be the wrong one.

In the hangar near the dirt runway, Jennifer and Kevin were enjoying their lunch while sitting on the right wing of the DC-3 next to the disassembled engine when the announcement came through the radio. The two had been kept out of the loop being so isolated from the rest of the staff on the island and the statement caused Jennifer to drop her peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the floor below where it landed with a splat.

"You're cleaning that up," said Kevin dryly before quickly drinking some water to avoid choking on his tuna sandwich after hearing what Samantha had just said.

"What does that mean, 'permanent lockdown'?" asked Jennifer wiping her mouth a napkin.

"I think she's explaining it now," the male pilot pointed out as he nodded his head at the radio where Samantha was continuing her talk.

"I don't mean how it affects everyone else. I mean what does it mean to us?" Jennifer continued needing to know. Kevin propped his elbow up on the engine cowling and rested his head on his arm.

"First it means that you shouldn't have taken that bet with me earlier about whether or not there would be consequences for what happened on Nublar," Kevin began, slightly amused. "I expect you to return all your winnings from this month's poker game by tomorrow. It also means that we'll have plenty of time to get that engine fixed because we're effectively gr-."

"NO!" shouted Jennifer startling the older pilot. "Don't you dare say the 'g' word!"

"Face it, kid, we're grounded," said Kevin refusing to back down. Jennifer clutched her ears and curled up on the wing.

"No, not that," she pleaded. "I can't stay out of the sky for long. I have…what's it called when you have a fear of the ground?"

Kevin looked at her strangely at that. "I don't think there is a thing called ground-ophobia," he confessed. "And quit being melodramatic. I've been looking forward to some rest and relaxation on a tropical island. Call it a mini-retirement," the pilot continued looking forward to his old age.

"Then I quit," said Jennifer hastily. Kevin shook his head.

"Request denied," he said, knowing she wasn't being serious, just scared.

"Kill me," Jennifer pleaded next as she rocked back and forth on the wing. Kevin just shook his head in shame as he continued to enjoy his sandwich.

Out in the field, Lori Ruso was listening to her radio as the investigation team was off posing with some tame galimimuses for pictures.

"Oh, hell," Lori groaned at hearing about the lockdown status as she rested the radio against her head. Apparently, this was the major reason Samantha had called her up so early that morning and insisted she get the survey team out the door that morning. Sighing to herself, she continued listening to the radio and wondering how it would affect dinosaur production on top of everything else.

Inside Embryonics Administration, Abby Nakajima, Derek Hoyle, Colin Meeks, Katrice Meeks, and Carly Carlson were going over what they had discovered so far in examining the Compy and the Pachycephalosaurus while Samantha's broadcast was heard on the TV mounted in the corner.

"What does that mean?" asked Derek concerned.

"It means we're in deep shit, dummy," said Abby unapologetically. "So shut up and keep working!"

Nearby Colin was slowly explaining to his frightened sister that just because they were in lockdown didn't mean they were being sent to jail.

At the Veterinary Clinic, Gerry Harding sat at as his desk listening to the radio announcement while in the bay the workers were watching the televised broadcast. A dark shadow crossed his eyes as memories of his time on Jurassic Park flashed past him. In his right hand was a small glass vial that contained the DNA sample he'd taken from one of the dead dinosaurs Jake and Henry had brought in a long time prior without any explanation for what had happened. He would get his answers to what they were hiding, lockdown or no lockdown.

On Indigo, Daniela St. Ives was with her workers in the replica Visitors Center lobby watching the broadcast. Samantha had told her only an hour prior about what was going to happen and she barely had enough time to send a message to everyone about it. Regardless, uneasiness and tension was seen across the faces of everyone on the island as they were going from a place they knew, where there were no dinosaurs…to a place they didn't know, to be effectively trapped on a location that had them.

Nublar: "So did Samantha brief you on the lockdown?" asked Henry of Nicolette as they were on the West Docks where the Anne B was scheduled to depart for Isla Sorna once it finished offloading its passengers and cargo. Nicolette nodded her head but otherwise said nothing as she unconsciously tightened her bag closer to her body that contained the report she had been so intent on investigating.

"So what do you think?" asked the scientist curious.

"Why does it matter what I think?" Nicolette shot back as a cool wind whispered in from the ocean.

"You drafted the lockdown procedures so you'd know it better than anyone," Henry reminded her of what she already knew.

"I did it because the Board asked me to," Nicolette responded. "It was a task and I got it done. That's what I think," she finished, avoiding his question altogether. Henry sighed softly knowing she would give him the runaround. Her feelings were strictly her own business and no one else's.

"Hey Henry, ask her if she knows what happened to all the pens," Jake goaded from further on down the docks. Henry turned to snap at him when he saw what he was doing. Jake was trying to break off a piece of the warped wooden dock that had existed before the concrete one had been put in next to it. Since maintenance on the old dock had stopped once the new one had been completed, the whole thing was on the verge of falling apart.

"I don't think you should be on that," Henry warned.

"Its fine," said his friend unconcerned as he slammed his foot hard down on a wooden board to break a piece loose. "I want a souvenir of my time here."

"Then take a stuffed dinosaur or a glass or a lunchbox from the dining hall back in the Visitors Center!" Henry yelled at him incredulously. "You bring that on Sorna and if it's got termites in it and they got out I can name several workers off the top of my head who would then kill you. She being one of them," he finished pointing at Nicolette. Jake waved off his concern as Henry looked at Nicolette.

"I don't suppose you have a pen?" he asked, pointedly. Nicolette reached into her bag where they were all in their carrying place and handed him one. Her eyes briefly widened as she realized it had been a pen she'd taken from Henry's office and forgotten to put back, she'd been so distracted by her work. But Henry didn't seem to even look at it as he flung it at Jake and nailed him in his back.

"Hey!" said Jake in shock as the pen clattered to the dock. He then picked it up and threw it back at Henry only to miss completely and have it sail off into the nearby marsh.

"You'd better go find that," Henry mentioned. "You know Hammond hates litter on this island."

Jake groaned to the sky as he abandoned his attempt for a souvenir and walked over to the concrete dock.

"Where is Tim?!" he demanded. "I want off this island!"

Henry consulted his wristwatch. "I'm sure he's found the correct key…right about now," he said tapping the crystal face.

Visitor's Center: "Aha!" said Tim finally and a little relieved as he put the final key on his keychain into the lock and then twisted it and pulled open the security grate over the four switches to kill all power to the island.

The programmer than pulled out his radio and turned it on. "Ed you good to go over there?" he asked into it. At the power shed, Ed Regis was standing by with a group of workers by the main switchboard.

"Roger that," the Head of PR said into the radio on his end. Tim nodded his head and then flipped the first of the top three switches and a group of the computers and the lights shut off, the same with the next two switches he toggled. He then reached down to the lower fourth switch and placed his hand on it.

"Attention everyone, this is Tim. I'm about to completely shut down the entire system. There'll be a temporary loss of power and then Ed Regis will turn the power back on for the Visitor's Center and some of the outlying buildings. Everything else will be dead so be prepared," he finished solemnly. He then hit the final switch and all the power across the entire island went off.

On the docks, Jake, Henry, and Nicolette looked up at the lampposts that lined the dock and noticed them turn off. Henry looked down at his watch.

"At 3:07 p.m. on Friday July 2nd, 1993…," he began for effect.

"A dream started to die," Jake concluded as he angrily kicked a rock off the concrete and into the water. He then swore briefly and shoved his hands deep into his pockets out of frustration and stared off across the ocean in the direction of Site B. Henry walked up to join him and clapped his friend on the shoulder out of sympathy. Unnoticed to either of them, Nicolette felt a rare wave of intense guilt wash over her. She tightened the shoulder strap on her bag, with her mysterious report on _The Sustainability of The Jurassic Park Project_ inside of it, closer to her body as she looked at the two scientists and then also out towards Site B.

Each was thinking of what the future held for them and the island they now called home.

On Site B, Sheila Matula watched her connection feed to Jurassic Park go dark and she sighed briefly before looking to see how much data she had managed to dump on her sister's actions.

Worker's Shed: Ed Regis and his contingent of workers exited the shed after having turned some of the power back on and walked down the dirt path back towards the Visitor's Center when a series of shadows drifted past them.

Looking up, the team saw a group of crows drifting past, each buzzing with excitement. Ed looked at them team who looked back uncertainly.

"We didn't miss one did we?" he asked semi-rhetorically as he knew none of them knew. Two of the workers who were armed checked their weapons for comfort as Ed pulled out his radio.

"Tim, the motion trackers all read zero right?" he asked into it.

"A little late to be asking that now, but that's what it said the last time I checked," the programmer responded. "What's up?"

"We're going to go investigate something," Ed told him. "We'll keep in touch."

He then pointed his radio out into the jungle and the team moved off into it, each keeping an eye out for any hostiles while also looking for the crows. They followed them for several moments before the smell of something rotting reached their noses. Without their masks on them, they did what they could to cover up the stench while pressing onwards.

After a few more minutes of walking, they found the crows clustered over something unseen before the team fired some shots at them and the birds all flew off for the safety of the air. Reaching the thing the birds had been picking at, Ed leaned over it before his face turned briefly green before he managed to calm himself down.

"I was wondering what had happened to you," he commented before pulling out his radio. "Tim, get me Samantha."

A nearby worker ran behind the nearest tree and threw up.

Sorna: "Go ahead, Ed," said the female Board Member as walked to the radio unit that was housed on the first floor of the Operations Building near a long egg incubator unit that hadn't seen use in some time.

"We finally found Robert Muldoon," Ed said, not tiptoeing around the subject. That subject caused a wave of uneasiness in Samantha.

"Not good news, I take it," she asked.

"Yeah," was the unhappy answer on the other end. Samantha sighed deeply at hearing that.

"Terrific," said Samantha disappointed and saddened for the loss of yet another coworker.

"Well at least now everyone who was on the island during the incident is accounted for," Ed said, trying to put some positive spin on things. It wasn't working for either of the two InGen workers, though.

"Yeah," Samantha now said sadly as he couldn't think of anything else to say on that subject. "In other news, I gave the speech about the lockdown."

"How did that go?" Ed asked.

"They accepted it but they weren't happy about it," she told him. "I just spent the last hour talking with several of them one on one about the whole thing."

"I'm not surprised," offered Ed sympathetically knowing it was a bombshell.

"And I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again," Samantha continued. "I'm not going to let what occurred on Jurassic Park also happen at Site B."

"And what are you going to do to prevent it?" asked Ed curious.

"By doing whatever it takes through whatever means necessary," Samantha swore. "The bottom line is that we lost seventy-five percent of our staff on Jurassic Park in less than twenty-four hours. In seventy-eight days, I won't have the blood of some two-hundred and seventy workers on my hands."

And with that she signed off and readied herself to have a long talk with Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu to finally get some answers about what was really going on.


	30. Descending Action

Pacific Ocean: The Anne B. crashed through the waves as it made its way towards Isla Sorna. Onboard were Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, Nicolette Stefrassa, Tim, and the rest of the programmers.

UC Berkeley: Sarah and Jess Harding stood outside of the university grounds and noticed the place was largely deserted as everyone had left early to enjoy the Fourth of July weekend.

"You sure about this?" asked Sarah of her younger sister for the umpteenth time.

"Positive," said Jess with a nod of her head. "InGen deals in genetics and I remember hearing something on the news about how mosquitoes are carriers of any number of diseases since they're real bloodsuckers. So I think InGen is getting into the diseases business," she reasoned before looking at Sarah's questioning look.

"Now of course why would InGen bother digging up old pieces of sap out of rickety old mines to get those diseases in the first place?" she continued before her eyes glazed over. "Well, millions of years ago there were mosquitoes just like today. And just like today they fed on the blood of animals," she said as if in a trance before snapping out of it. "So I think what they're after are ancient diseases that are still inside those bugs preserved by the amber."

"It's an…interesting theory," Sarah had to admit although she had her doubts about it being true. But at the moment she had no theories of her own for what they were up to and since her sister had worked so hard coming up this idea, there was no reason not to pursue it.

"So what do you want my colleagues to find out for you?" asked Sarah next about why Jess had insisted they come here.

"Confirm if what I said is possible and also find out how old this piece of amber is," the younger sister answered while holding up the amber fragment.

"Okay. We'll figure that out tomorrow then when we meet my friend here," said Sarah as she pointed at the doors before stating wistfully. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Jess was about to start forward when she stopped and looked at her confused.

"What?" she asked bewildered.

"Hamlet; Shakespeare," said Sarah leading her sister towards the doors of the genetics labs. "I know you read that book this last semester. I know I did when I was your age and you're at my old school."

"Oh, right," said Jess as if she finally recognized the title. "The one with the three witches. I remember that," the sister continued, digging herself into a deeper hole.

Sarah gave an exasperated groan upon hearing that. "And mom wonders why you got a 'C' in English this year."

She then pushed her sister back towards her jeep before any protests could be launched at her.

Isla Sorna: The Anne B. came to a halt in her berth at the docks and a ramp was lowered allowing the passengers off the boat while the cranes got to work taking supplies out of the hold and lowering them to the flatbed trucks that were waiting. As soon as Jake and Henry hit the concrete, they were immediately greeted by nearby workers who expressed relief that the two were okay.

"So how's the track laying going?" asked Jake of the one of the workers as he noticed a group of Jurassic Park tour vehicles pull into the harbor.

"It's easy and hard," said one of the workers. "It's easy to put the track down because we've got so much of it and the dirt roads are well marked. But it's hard to secure it to the ground so it won't shift from either dinosaur feet tremors or the vehicles moving along it. Plus this island is a hell of a lot larger than Nublar and we're on a tight deadline."

"Well keep it up you guys because we all know what's going down in a little under 80 days," Henry said encouragingly. The workers nodded in agreement and dispersed back to their work as the two scientists walked to Tim who was securing the vehicles whose windows were completely blacked out. Even though the programmers all knew about the dinosaurs on Jurassic Park, InGen was still trying to cover up Sorna's existence.

"Glad to be back home? I know I am," stated Tim as Henry and Jake nodded their head before each gave a brief yawn as the sun began to set over the ocean. "You guys coming with?"

The two scientists exchanged a brief glance before turning back to the programmer.

"We actually want to go see Jennifer first and let her know we're okay," Jake told him. Tim nodded his head, recalling how frantic the female pilot had been upon finding them.

"See you for dinner then," he said with a wave while knowing that Samantha Brown would immediately interrogate him about where they went once he made it back to the village.

The two scientists headed for a nearby truck that wasn't in use, fired it up, and then headed off into the jungle with the tour vehicles trailing behind.

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: The building was closing down for the night as Stephanie Sandelder collected her things at her desk. As the workers slowly filed out for the night, she heard the elevator chime and watched the doors open as the Board of Directors slowly filed out.

Watching them filter past her desk she noticed how each looked extremely haggard and unkempt as what had happened at Jurassic Park continued to occupy their entire time while at the office…and possibly every waking moment they were outside of work. Stephanie didn't envy them and was grateful she didn't have to deal it.

The last figure to emerge was InGen's COO, Peter Ludlow, and he was talking on his cellular phone.

"So after the speech at Jurassic Park on Sunday, we'll start drafting up plans for interviewing personnel of interest," he said into the line. "Great, I'll see you on Monday, then."

He then shut off the phone and then put it in its carrier before noticing Stephanie looking at him.

"Ah, Ms. Sandelder, how are you?" he asked amicably. "It's been awhile since we last spoke."

"Unless you count when Whitacre and Wu barged into your meeting," Stephanie replied, a little miffed and embarrassed at their actions. Ludlow snorted briefly at her comment.

"They're certainly headstrong and tend to follow their own rules," he grumbled. "I wouldn't be concerned about what they did, I expected no less from them."

"Yes sir," said Samantha slightly relieved. "But if you don't mind my asking, why even keep them around if they're that much trouble?"

"Because my uncle can tell instantly about people and has taken a liking to them," said Ludlow annoyed but realized he was being a little unfair. "But in their defense, they are two of the best geneticists in the world. Without them this project wouldn't have come together as quickly as it did. If they leave, they would easily find success elsewhere at any number of genetics firms and this company would then have a harder time isolating the DNA strands. No, they may be annoyances but this company needs them to survive. I just wish they didn't already know that. Not that they couldn't act worse than they already do."

Samantha nodded her head as she put some things away in her purse and snapped it shut before pulling the strap over her shoulder. She was about to head for the door when Ludlow stepped in front of her.

"Ms. Sandelder, how long have you worked for this company?" he asked frankly. Stephanie's eyebrows furled as she wondered the purpose of that question.

"Three years sir. I started out as a temp secretary/receptionist and then was hired full-time," she answered before deciding it was too late to be circling around what he was driving out. "Is there something wrong with my work?" she asked bluntly. Ludlow immediately shook his head.

"No, no. If anything you've been a model employee," he answered positively. "You've been an excellent receptionist, secretary, and also been willing to put up with the various things I ask of you like observing those two…brats who were poking around in our computer system." He concluded.

"Then…," began the receptionist confused about where this was all headed.

"I have a special assignment I'd like to discuss with you here tomorrow at noon," Ludlow stated, finally revealing the truth of why he'd brought up the topic.

"Uh, yes sir," said Samantha shocked but pleased that she had gotten that much attention from the higher ups.

"Good," said Ludlow glad as he clapped his hands together. "Until then."

"Can I at least get a hint of what we're going to discuss?" asked Stephanie curious and hopeful. Ludlow paused briefly before he exited the building.

"It involves an island off the coast of Costa Rica," was all Ludlow would admit to in a slightly ominous tone. He then was gone from the lobby leaving Stephanie all alone as she briefly thought about what he had said before having to leave as well before security locked up the building for the night.

Hangar, Sorna: Jennifer and Kevin were securing the cowling back onto the right engine on the DC-3 having finished their work on it.

"We'll test it tomorrow morning before we fly the programmers to Indigo and then back to San Diego," Kevin informed his protégé. "But I'm sure it's good to go."

"We're in the pipe, five by five," Jennifer quipped as the two climbed down the ladder off of the wing and onto the concrete below. Gathering their things, the exited out of the front of the hangar and then closed the large metal sliding doors as Kevin then locked the doors with a metal chain and a padlock.

"I don't suppose we're taking any workers with us?" Jennifer asked reluctantly while Kevin tested the doors to make sure they wouldn't open.

"Not that I've heard, but I'm sure Sam would be keeping that information close to his chest if there were," Kevin figured trying not to think about the idea.

"And what's going to happen to the plane and the helicopter?" asked the female pilot next, seemingly more worried about those two pieces of equipment.

"Sam said we can conduct periodic maintenance on them to make sure they're still flyable. But once the lockdown goes into effect on Monday, July 5th, we're going to have to drain all the fuel out of them and that fuel will then be stored in a secured location," Kevin told her based on a conversation he'd had with the Head of Operations earlier in the day.

That comment caused a mix of emotions in Jennifer which Kevin immediately noticed.

"We won't be flying anywhere so it makes sense not to keep them fuelled and ready to go at a moment's notice," the male pilot pointed out.

"Yeah, but are they even going to tell us where the fuel will be stored?" Jennifer had to ask. Kevin shook his head.

"For security reasons, no," he admitted. "But Sam will know and that's good enough for me."

"Well I don't like not knowing," Jennifer told him sharply. "That plane and helicopter are really our only ways off of this island because none of the boats we have will last five minutes out there on the open sea."

The two walked over to the small concrete building that housed the control room and the rooms with their bunks.

"You're over thinking things," Kevin retorted as the two reached the electrified fence that surrounded the building. "The Board has a plan and after it succeeds in two and a half months or so we'll get the fuel back and things'll be back to normal."

"I hope so," said Jennifer not entirely agreeing with his view of things. "Because the last thing I want is to be stuck here on the tarmac with workers desperately trying to escape on a plane that has no fuel while an angry mass of dinosaurs appears from the trees and…"

VROOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

SCREEEEEEEECHHHHHHHH!

Worker's Village: The convoy of tour vehicles rolled into the village that was fully lit up as if an island amongst a sea of trees thanks to the nighttime darkness. From the vehicles, the doors opened and the technicians exited and then were ushered into the lodge.

From the rear of the vehicles, Lori Ruso emerged with the investigation team as Tim also got out and stretched his arms while yawning.

"Boat lag?" asked Lori amused as she too was very sleepy from the long day.

"I can see phantom lines of computer code whenever I shut my eyes," the programmer confessed. "It is so good to be home, though. Good night."

"Thanks for the lift and for Sheila getting most of the tour program online," Lori said before he could leave. "Afraid we were out there a little too long today because my legs are like jelly right now."

Tim snorted at that. "Not too brave to admit the tour vehicles have their uses?" he pointed out wryly.

"Sometimes they do," Lori was willing to admit wistfully. "But only when I'm half-asleep and can't think straight. When I'm in the right mind, no way." She said half-jokingly. Tim laughed at that and waved before trudging off across the street towards the workers lodgings to see what food was left in the dining area and if he could find the island's other programmer.

Behind him, Cassie Matula looked across the village to see if her sister was anywhere watching her…or if she would confront her. To her disappointment and sadness, her sister was a no-show and so the secret Pacific Pharmaceuticals employee trudged into the lodge with a downtrodden expression on her face.

She wasn't the only one not pleased with recent events as Richard Levine walked up to Lori as the tour vehicles sensed they were empty and with all doors closed they headed off towards the garage.

"I want to see Samantha Brown," the Becky Doll owner demanded. "I know she's here."

Lori didn't even bother hiding her groan she was so tired and fed up with Levine's behavior.

"You can talk to her tomorrow if she's available," she told him frankly. Levine shook his head.

"That's not good enough, I-," he began when a figure walked up to them.

"Hello Lori," began InGen's Head of Operations, Sam Stone. "What's-," and then he noticed her expression and Levine standing next to her.

"He wants to talk to Samantha," the Head of Production informed him a little peeved. Sam turned to face the investigation team member.

"You can talk to her tomorrow if she's available," he said in an unintentional repeat of what Lori had just said.

"Then I want to speak with your boss so I can-," began Levine angrily when he was interrupted once more.

"**You can talk with me tomorrow if I'm available**," said a voice sharply cutting into the conversation. Levine turned to see Samantha Brown standing nearby with a none-too-happy expression on her face over Levine's attitude towards InGen's employees. A light rain soon began to fall lightly soaking the entire group.

"I-I-I-," began Levine off kilter that Samantha had actually shown up and wasn't going to diplomatically deal with his attitude. "I'm going to hold you to that," he said in a huff and then stomped off.

"I'd like to speak with you as well when you have the time," Thorne also said as he too walked off towards the lodge.

"Me as well," Gutierrez also told the female Board Member before departing as well. Samantha blew out a long breath that actually turned in slight mist as she turned to her coworkers.

"As if this day wasn't crazy enough," she told the group trying to sound light-hearted as she started walking towards the workers lodge to get out of the rain.

"You're telling me," said Lori in complete agreement about Levine. And then she realized that comment could be construed in regards to the Lockdown that Samantha had talked about earlier and so she shot a look of apology to the Board Member.

"Lori I am really sorry about-," Samantha began truthfully as they entered into the lobby. Lori immediately shook her head.

"You did what you had to do. I'm not mad or anything," she told her superior with complete honesty. "But…what does that mean for production now? I mean the production and scientific crew are effectively stuck here with basically nothing to do."

Samantha had to nod in her head in agreement. "Look, unofficially speaking, if you've got enough fuel to spare, as far I'm concerned, fire up the production plants and make something." She told Lori who brightened up a little bit at that idea.

"Just don't use the CRAYs because headquarters will know right away," Samantha added quickly.

"Got it," said Lori nodding her head vigorously. "Well, I've got to get some sleep or else I'll be sleepwalking and giving a tour to ghosts. Thank goodness it's the weekend and I can take some time off for myself."

Sam laughed at that as Lori headed for the elevator.

"Lori, I have to ask you something important before you go," said Samantha hesitantly. Lori had just clicked the elevator call button and turned to face her.

"Shoot, just make it quick," she requested. Sam was curious about what she was going to ask so late at night and turned his attention toward the Board Member.

"What do you know about E.L.E.?" Samantha asked bluntly. Sam had to blink a couple of times at hearing the topic come up and he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head from exhaustion to pay attention.

Lori's forehead scrunched up as she tried to recall what she knew about the term.

"It's an emergency plan in case all the fences are about to fail and the dinosaurs could get loose," was all she really knew. Samantha nodded her head.

"After Sam, Daniela, Jake and Henry, you are next in the chain of command," Samantha began. "Of them, only Daniela doesn't know the details about E.L.E. but I'm about to inform her of the exact details sometime tomorrow. But as the days go on towards when the fences fail, I may have to bring you into the loop as well. I just wanted to let you know in advance before the Lockdown goes into effect."

"Oh, okay," said Lori not sure what else to say as the elevator doors slid open. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess." She concluded trying to be positive. She then stepped into the carriage and the doors closed behind her.

Samantha then turned to Sam who looked at her curiously.

"You really think it's going to happen don't you?" he asked suspiciously about E.L.E.'s implementation.

"Officially or unofficially I can't say one way or the other," Samantha told him. "But we both know something is going to hit the fan and hit hard. When it does you'll need all the help you can get. The scientists will listen to Jake and Henry. The staff from Indigo will listen to Daniela. The manual laborers and support staff will listen to you. But protocol dictates Gerry, Bobbie, Kevin, and Tim can't be fully brought into the loop until E.L.E. is confirmed activated. They and their staff need someone to listen to and trust and she is that person." Samantha told him. "Without her…"

Sam wished he could give a response of any sort to her comment but found that he couldn't.

"And on that note," said Samantha looking at the clock on the wall. "Where are Jake and Henry? I know they got off the boat so they should be here by now!" she said annoyed.

Airfield, Sorna: Kevin and Jennifer covered their eyes with their hands and arms as a pair of bright lights shined on them.

"If you were expecting company you should've warned me," said Kevin to Jennifer over the noise of the vehicle engine. "I only cooked enough chili for two."

Jennifer for her part gave him an incredulous expression at that comment as two figures appeared in the headlight beams.

"Yeah, too bad you'll eat it all yourself," said a familiar voice.

"Which is why got here early to get our share before you do," said another voice the two recognized. Kevin's expression turned into a wide grin as he walked up to the two and draped his arms around their shoulders.

"Ha, ha, Jake and Henry!" the pilot said excitedly. "I'm glad to see you guys are still alive!"

"Thanks, Kev," said Henry appreciatively as Jake quickly went to go turn off the truck and rejoin them.

"Hey, Jennifer, don't you want to greet our guests?" asked Kevin of his protégé as she had used her keycard to unlock the security door in the fence and had pushed it open. She then turned to face them as now she was the one covered in shadow from the lights emanating off the control building.

"I'm not happy to see either of you," she told them before giving a slight smirk. "But I am glad you're alright," She relented. Kevin nodded his head and then headed for the building.

"I'll go throw some more chili into the pot and fire up the burner," he told them before going through the door. That left Henry and Jake alone with Jennifer.

A few moments of silence passed between them before Jake finally spoke up.

"Do you have it?" he asked of the female pilot not bothering with niceties. Jennifer sighed heavily at that.

"I knew this wasn't a social call," she stated frustrated at their lack of concern for her finding them both on that valley near death.

"Did you get it?" Henry asked as well, needing to know. Jennifer looked at them through weary bloodshot eyes.

"Yes, I got your blood sample," she confirmed as Jake and Henry felt a wave of relief wash over them. "Now why is it so important?" Jennifer demanded next.

"It just is," said Jake refusing to answer her question. "Now fork it over."

The female pilot vigorously shook her head at that. "Not until you answer my question."

The rain was now pouring where they were and the trio retreated into the building after Henry shut the gate door behind them. They then walked to the control room where the radar, anemometer, radio, Doppler radar, topographic map of the island, and other assorted equipment were sitting. Jennifer walked over to the small safe in the room as Jake and Henry each took a seat.

Twisting the dial on the safe, Jennifer rotated in the combination and pulled the door open. Inside were logbooks, maps, the keys to the helicopter and plane, two 9mm handguns with extra ammunition, assorted items and important papers, and a vial stashed in the back. Jennifer pulled the vial out before closing the safe and spinning the dial once more.

Pulling up a seat near the two scientists, the pilot sat down and held up the vial with a red liquid inside.

"You tell me what I want to know or the contents of this vial are going to end up being mopped up off the floor," she threatened. Jake just stared at her as Henry rolled his eyes briefly.

"Food will be ready in five minutes," said Kevin as his voice drifted in from down the hallway. "Hope you're hungry."

Henry briefly looked at Jake before turning his attention back to Jennifer.

"Have you modified the DC-3?" he asked seemingly out of the blue. The female looked at him confused.

"What?" she had to ask.

"Have you modified the DC-3?" Henry asked again. Jennifer nodded her head.

"Of course we have," she said as if that were obvious. "That plane is old and sometimes you can't get the right parts for it. So you make do and hope for the best."

"And if you had a modification that didn't work right, how would you restore the plane to what it originally was?" Henry asked next. Jennifer gave him a dim look at that.

"We keep the original blueprints on file in case that ever happens," she told him as if that should've been obvious.

"And if those blueprints had been altered how would you figure out the original design of the plane?" Henry continued as if laying a bombshell on her.

"What?!" asked Jennifer bewildered beyond imagination at that question.

"Just play along," said Jake finally chiming in.

"Well we'd…we'd need an original unmodified plane for comparison," the female pilot reasoned.

"Exactly," said Henry with a nod of his head. "And for those of us in the genetics department, for the T-Rex genetic code what you hold in your hand is our original unmodified strand of DNA. Version 1.0."

Jennifer's eyes widened as she stared at the vial as her mind replayed Henry's line of questioning and how it compared to this.

"Are you seriously suggesting…," she began incredulously. Henry immediately shook his head.

"I'm not 'suggesting' anything," he told her coolly. "I'm just trying to cover all the bases to be sure. It never hurts to be thorough." He then added.

"So will you hand it over or not?" Jake asked, tired of waiting. Jennifer looked at the vial as a thousand questions ran through her mind. But she ultimately said nothing and gave Henry the vial which he put inside a small box he took out of his coat pocket.

"Food's ready! Come and get it!" shouted Kevin from the mess hall.

"Thank you," said Henry genuinely as Jake nodded his head as the group got up out of their chairs and headed for dinner.

"What's going to happen in 76 days?" Jennifer had to know.

"We don't know, but we're working hard to stop it," Jake swore, trying to reassure her. As they entered into the mess area, Kevin was ladling chili into several bowls.

"Now be careful because this stuff is so hot it will probably melt through the floor," the male pilot warned them as they each took a seat.

"Hey Kev, you mind if we bunk here for the night?" requested Jake. Kevin shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine with me but Jennifer and I aren't giving up our rooms for you," he informed them. "One of you can sleep on the couch, the other on the chair recliner."

"Sounds great," Henry told him as he tentatively tried some chili and nearly burned the roof of his mouth off. He coughed hoarsely as Kevin laughed at his reaction.

"That's how you know it's good," the pilot said pleased. Jennifer chuckled as well as she shoveled down a whole spoonful of the stuff no problem.

"Show off," said Jake to her as he breathed on his spoonful of the stuff. A hearty chuckle quickly arose in the group.

Despite the pain the two were going to endure from the night's meal and sleeping on furniture, the two scientists knew it was healthier than going back to the Village and having Samantha confront them. Although the two didn't know for certain that she needed to speak with them, they could each sense a certain chill in the air coming from the Workers Village.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.


	31. A Morning Off

A/N: As non-professional writer, my only real advice for aspiring writers is to write as much as you can as often as you can. I believe some famous author said that once.

Early Morning, Isla Sorna: The tour vehicles were once more parked outside the visitors lodge as the technicians were herded back into them having had an early breakfast. Cassie again looked for her sister but still didn't see any sign of her and so she boarded the tour vehicle feeling even worse than she had the day before.

Tim walked outside of the lodge on the opposite side of the road with a donut in his mouth as he put on his jacket while Samantha Brown accompanied him.

"You coming with us to San Diego?" the programmer asked after he finished pulling the jacket on and taking the donut out of his mouth. Samantha shook her head.

"I wish I could but I've got too much work here to do," she told him with a hint of regret. Tim gave a brief nod his head that he knew that would be the case.

"You'd better be careful. You don't want to be here after the Lockdown goes into effect," he teased. Samantha gave a slight grin at that knowing that as a Board Member she was free to come and go as she pleased.

"I am going to try and be on this island as much as I can over the next couple of months while the Lockdown is in effect," she informed him. "I am not going to let you all hang out to dry for the Board's mistakes."

"Thanks," said Tim with sincere gratitude as the horn on the lead Explorer honked. "Ha, ha, Sheila, well done with the programming on that one." He remarked knowing that Sheila had admitted last night she'd rigged the tour vehicle to automatically honk once the convoy was fully loaded. The two walked over to the lead vehicle and Tim opened the door to what would've been the driver's side if the vehicle didn't automatically drive itself.

"Did the staff give you a list of things they wanted you to pick up before the Lockdown?" Samantha asked conspiratorially. Tim shifted uneasily as he took his seat.

"Don't remind me. I've got a giant list and I'm wondering how to pay for it all," he remarked as he closed the door as he closed the door and leaned out the open window.

"Well if you promise to be responsible with it, I'm willing to let you use…this," said Samantha as she produced her company credit card in her hand. Tim's eyes brightened upon seeing that.

"Keep track of all your purchases," the Board Member warned him before handing the card over. "Anything over a thousand dollars in a single week I have to answer for."

"I gotcha," Tim said understandingly as he took the card and put it in his wallet. "I can't do that much damage in a single day but I'll still keep an eye out."

Samantha nodded her head. "Just don't tell them I let you use my card to pay for it all. I don't want the staff thinking the Board is trying to shut them up in regards to the Lockdown. Take care," she told him as Tim nodded his head and hit a button on the center dash and he wound up his window as the tour vehicles rolled off out of the Village. She watched them go while pondering when Jake and Henry would finally arrive here after wherever they'd been hiding last night.

She didn't have much time to think about it as Lori Ruso emerged from the lodge in a one-piece blue and black mesh swimsuit with gym shorts on over the bottom of it. She also had a pair of oversized plastic sunglasses on her face, a floppy beach hat sat on her head, an umbrella tucked under one arm, a folded up beach lounge chair tucked under the other, and a tote bag slung over one shoulder as she tried her best to apply suntan lotion.

"Busy day planned?" asked Samantha lightly with a smirk across her face that she tried to hide with her hand.

"Oh yeah, you'd better believe it," Lori promised. "Today's beach day! I'm going with the first group out to stake out the best spot on the sand. Then I'm going to do nothing but soak up the sun and finally finish reading my newest romance novel."

Samantha turned to look down the road at a van that had some workers getting onboard while others were seen loading their gear into a trailer attached to the back. She thought for sure she saw at least a couple of surfboards in there.

"Don't let me keep you then," said Samantha as she stepped aside. Lori was walking past her when she thought of something.

"So beach day isn't cancelled?" she had to ask mischievously. "Not a waste of fuel or anything?"

Samantha snorted at that question. "They cancel beach day because of fuel concerns and I'll go complain right along with you!"

Lori laughed hard at that and was about to continue on her way when Roberta Carter stumbled out of the lodge looking dazed as her hair was a mess and her clothes were all wrinkled.

"Hey Bobbie, want to come to the beach with me?" asked Lori. Bobbie looked up at her through sleepy bloodshot eyes.

"Beach…no beach…coffee…need coffee," she said as if in a trance and then she trudged off towards the Operations Building. Samantha and Lori watched her go.

"Wasn't there a pot or two of coffee in the dining hall?" Samantha asked. She normally didn't drink it straight up, preferring lattes instead, but she was sure she'd seen two coffeemakers, one decaf and one regular.

"You don't know Bobbie," said Lori in slight disagreement. "She's a doctor who is used to not getting much sleep in her line of work. In med school she learned the secret art of brewing a pot of coffee strong enough that will knock anybody's socks off. It's not for regular folk. But for her it helps get her up to normal speed," the Head of Production revealed. Samantha whistled at that.

"Look, I know you won't be having as much fun as I will today, but hopefully it won't be too bad," Lori stated as she then bid her goodbye and joined the other early risers who were leaving for the beach.

Samantha then looked around and observed how early morning Saturday was in the Workers Village. Carly Carlson was seen walking towards the front gate with her covered tennis racket in hand and counting the number of tennis balls she had on her in their slender plastic containers. She was then joined by a couple of other workers who were each carrying a large bag of golf clubs and they began chatting as they exited the village. Over by the mechanics garage, a small group of workers were outside working on a truck's engine compartment and laughing and joking about various things as they did it.

"Abby!" a voice cried out startling Samantha as a young Caucasian male with brown hair was being dragged rapidly down the main road by a shorter Asian woman.

"Quit complaining!" Abby Nakajima shot back at Derek Hoyle. "I promised you that you would take me on a romantic walk through the interior of the island. You can't very well break my promise now can't I?" she asked in some weird form of twisted logic. She dragged Derek past the mechanics who looked at them for a few moments before they began making exaggerated cat calls and giving obnoxious whistles at the two.

Derek for his part turned beet red before straightening up and in an attempt to not lose face, he stopped struggling and firmly took a hold of Abby's hand and walked steadily towards the exit. The mechanics stopped their calls and waited a moment as Abby used her free hand to give them a thumbs-up sign at their effort and the mechanics began laughing to each other before resuming their original work.

WHOOOOOOSSHHHHHHHH

Samantha was taken briefly aback as a wind gusted against her skin as an orange and blonde haired young woman in a pink jumpsuit tore past her. A moment later a youthful scientist came to a stop near her as he hunched over breathing heavily.

"Katrice get back here and finish brushing your teeth!" Colin Maken shouted at his younger sister.

"No way, you'll have to catch me first!" Katrice goaded as she made for the exit to the village. "Freedom!"

Colin had to get back up and chase after her once more before she vanished from sight down the road. Samantha for her part could only stare at their departing forms as she wondered if she had really just seen that.

Sam walked out with a Styrofoam cup full of coffee and was stirring it as he looked at Samantha's confused expression towards the front gate.

"Saw Katrice make her early morning getaway did you?" he asked knowingly. "She usually does it every other Saturday. I think she does it to make sure Colin gets some exercise around this place."

Samantha could only stand there and wonder as the van full of beachgoers pulled away into the jungle blaring loud rock music.

"So what does everyone else do around here who has the day off?" Samantha asked, curious. Sam looked around at various workers going about random tasks while others just wandered around the village chatting to each other. At the bridge leading over the moat to the Operations Building, a group of workers in tracksuits were getting ready for their weekly run by first doing their morning stretches.

A pair of shadows overhead caught their attention and the two looked up to see twin pterodactyls soaring overhead as moments later a third object joined them in the form of the DC-3 which was being tested by Kevin and Jennifer before they took the technicians off the island. The plane circled the village a couple of times before taking off due south and the pterodactyls instead took a northwesterly direction.

"Trying to forget what's going to happen in 76 days. Trying not to think about the fact that 10,000 volts and a handful of thin pieces of high tensile steel is really all that separates us from a lot of things that would like nothing better than to tear us to shreds," the Head of Sorna offered sagely. He then took a sip of his coffee before cringing at how watered down it tasted as he then poured the thing out onto the ground.

"Well said," Samantha agreed. A truck moved past the two carrying yet another group of workers who were decked out in what looked like safari gear. In the truck were also a number of pieces of digging and excavation equipment and a small banner on the side of the vehicle read: "Site B Volunteer Archaeology Team: Rediscovering Lost Worlds."

Sam watched them leave before speaking up. "They went nuts the day Nicolette and the survey team accidentally stumbled across that pyramid while planning new pen locations."

Samantha held back a laugh at hearing that. "So how did Nicolette take that wrench in her carefully laid plans?"

"How do you think?" asked Sam pointedly. "But she got over it by realizing you could plant an antenna up on top of it and cut down on radio interference by 15 percent."

The runners finally began their trek into the interior of the island. That cleared up the bridge and Sam and Samantha walked towards the Operations Building.

"Did you know the temple was there?" asked Samantha curious. She had only remembered a little bit about when it had been reported to the Board. Since it wasn't really an HR issue she'd largely not paid attention to the brief flurry of attention it had caused.

"No idea," Sam confessed. "We'd been here for four years at that point and thought we knew everything there was to know about this island. And suddenly there's this big huge structure that nobody knew was there." He reminisced. "It really makes you wonder what else might be out there hidden in the trees."

Samantha nodded her head as the two walked up the steps to the Operations Building.

"Since you brought up the topic of things out there that are hidden that nobody knows about, there's something I need to ask you," Samantha began as the walked through the doors of the building which was largely deserted. "Have you looked at the party favors lately?" she asked cryptically.

Sam's eyebrows scrunched up as he looked at her confused. "Someone's having a party?"

"Elle might," Samantha pointed out. That caused Sam to do a double-take upon hearing E.L.E. being brought up and what the party favors really were in this case.

As they continued walking towards Sam's office, the two passed Nicolette's office where she was seen feverishly typing away on her computer. Her keystrokes seemed to be a little loud, which might have implied anger behind her actions had Sam or Samantha been paying any attention to her. She did note the two walking past her and part of their conversation. Due to power saving measures, all the buildings had to cut back on air conditioning and so if you didn't leave your door open you would instead bake in your office.

Given she was the one responsible for introducing the cost-saving measures, any passing worker would get the impression that she was mad at her own actions. But that couldn't have been farther than the truth. To her, all of that was just a matter of mathematics. The numbers said they would save power this way and thus maximize the amount of time the island had until the fences finally failed. Discomfort would come with her suggestions but that was unavoidable and thus not worth dwelling upon.

What she was really thinking about was the report sitting on her desk that she had compiled during her time on Nublar. It was handwritten and in code so if anyone read it, they'd make no sense of it. But she was currently typing up a non-coded version on her computer for further review.

But for every keystroke she made, and with every line she read, her anger and resentment grew and grew. And then a lone bead of sweat dribbled down her hair in front of her face from the temperature in the room. The Head of Strategic Planning on Site B angrily flicked it off out of sight where it landed with a splat on a second report on her desk. A report title simply: _The Sustainability of the Jurassic Park Project._

Airfield, Sorna: The DC-3 came to a halt on the dirt airstrip as the tour vehicles reached the end of their track near the field and the technicians got out and walked towards the plane. Jake and Henry watched as the rear door of the plane opened and Jennifer and Kevin got out.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," Jennifer began speaking to the group. "We just need to quickly refuel the plane and we'll be on our way. Until then you can either board now or wait outside."

She then took some chocks and placed them on the wheels on the plane. Jennifer next headed off to join Kevin who was firing up the fuel truck, but not before shooting a look at Jake and Henry to let them know her interest in that DNA sample hadn't ended with their talk last night.

"Hey you guys need anything from the mainland?" asked Tim walking up to them and breaking the stare between the two scientists and the pilot. Henry shook his head.

"We were just there, remember?" he pointed out lightly while displaying some of his bruises. "Have a good time without us."

"I will," Tim promised. The two scientists gave their regards and then headed for the truck.

"I didn't see any workers with that group. Guess everybody decided to stay," Jake observed as Henry nodded his head. A little further on their way, they passed by a group of technicians not waiting inside of the plane, one of them being a forlorn Cassie Matula. The two scientists decided to just walk past her rather than confront her but then she surprised them by speaking to them.

"Will you do me a big favor and please tell Sheila I'm really sorry," she pleaded as the two stopped with their backs to her.

"Depends," Jake began as he turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Will you tell your boss to go to hell?" he asked, his tone simmering in anger towards John Brown.

Cassie considered it for a moment before responding. "I think you'll have an advantage over him if he doesn't know you knew I was here," she suggested instead.

That was food for thought for the two scientists as they both considered it.

"Good point," said Henry having to agree with that for now. "We'll tell her."

Cassie nodded her head. "Thank you," she said grateful. The two scientists got in the truck and drove off back towards the Workers Village.

UC-Berkeley: Sarah and Jessica Harding walked towards the Genetics Research Building ready to find some answers about their amber fragment.

"So if I'm right, what'll you give me?" Jess teased. Sarah looked at her young sister dubiously.

"My gratitude?" she offered. Jess shook her head.

"I want something better than that!" she insisted as the two entered into the facility.

"Like what?" Sarah asked. "And don't say cigarettes because I'm not buying you any." She added. Jess rolled her eyes at hearing that.

"I swear when mom caught me that was the first time I tried one!" she insisted. "And now I'm still getting crap for it."

Sarah just gave her a pitiless look but dropped commenting on it further.

"So what then?" she asked, moving on. Jess gave a conspiratorial grin at that.

"I want you to owe me a favor," the teenager requested. That request threw Sarah off briefly.

"A favor?" she repeated confused. Jess nodded her head.

"Nothing I'll regret later on?" Sarah had to ask from experience when it came to previous favors with her. Jess rapidly nodded her head.

After a few more moments of consideration, Sarah finally had her answer. "Fine, a favor it is," she agreed. "Assuming you're right."

"Oh, I will be," said Jess self-assuredly. "But now that's settled, what are you planning on doing for Fourth of July?"

Sarah shrugged. "Ian's still recuperating in the hospital so I figured I'd spend it with you and mom. I really don't think dad's going to make it this year from wherever it is he's working," she figured. Although if he did make it, Sarah thought, she wouldn't let him leave until he finally admitted what his work involved and what had happened to Jess all those weeks ago.

"Yeah, I figured we'd spend the early part of the day with mom," Jess said. "But then I figured we could go to San Diego University and go to your department's Fourth of July party." The younger sister requested.

"And why would you want to do that?" asked Sarah curious as they stopped outside the room where they were to meet her colleague.

Jess now had a wide grin from ear to ear. "Because mom made me clean up some stuff in your old room and I found one of your old departmental yearbooks. I found some pretty interesting separate photos crammed in there from one of their old parties. If I'm going to get practical experience being an animal behaviorist, I think now is a good time to start. Because I saw some things in those photos…"

Sarah groaned at that reminder of her past and how she'd been a different person back when she was still a student. Not bothering to answer her sister's request, she pushed open the door and the two entered into the lab.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Samantha Brown stood by Sam's window and watched as the DC-3 went soaring overhead headed towards Isla Indigo. As it vanished from sight, the Board Member's attention then turned towards a semi-truck rolling into the main avenue of the village with what looked like a long black metallic cylindrical object on the trailer behind it.

"What is that?" she had to ask curious. Sam turned in his chair and rolled over to the window.

"Oh, that's what we call the Giganotosaurus Grill," he said with a laugh. "We haul her out during holidays and other special events. Alejandro and the rest of the kitchen staff cook up a big meal on it and we eat outside around it."

A swarm of workers descended on the trailer, walked up some steps onto the area on the truck bed next to the grill, and then pushed open the various segment covers. They then took out their tools and began scrubbing the cooking surface clean.

"Must be quite a party," Samantha mused before turning around and sitting in the chair opposite Sam's desk and pulling out a type list of questions, "which brings me back to my original point about Elle's party favors." She had to use E.L.E.'s code name and related code phrases because Sam couldn't keep his door and windows shut due to the heat.

Sam sighed as he pushed back on his chair and drummed his fingers on his desk. "I'll just flat out admit I haven't been out to where we store her stuff since I've been so wrapped up with Jurassic Park going under plus the preparations for the Lockdown," he stated. "But as soon as the Lockdown is well under way, I'll try and get and out to the party supply warehouses towards the end of next week."

Samantha nodded her head as she wrote that down in her notebook. "Take Jake, Henry, and Daniela with you to help out. The Board needs an accurate count of everything that's out there and what condition it is in."

"Well until Daniela is over here and fully briefed, on this island Jake, Henry, and I are the only ones who know what's out there so the numbers should be the same," Sam began. "Condition I couldn't really tell you…at least not with one-hundred percent accuracy. I mean you've got everything in there from Randlers to Moro-12."

Samantha wrote down some more notes in her notebook. "As it gets closer to the day the fences fail the Board intends to quietly sneak an inspection team in here to look at the party favors. Until then, just give us your best estimate."

"Right," said Sam a little uncomfortable about the whole thing.

"What about the towers?" Samantha asked next as she checked off the first topic she needed addressed and moved right on to the next.

"Towers are good to go," the Head of Operations told her as he swung his feet up onto his desk. "The maintenance crews have been checking them for years and never realized, well…you know."

Samantha gave a brief nod of her head. Sam for his part then shifted nervously in his chair.

"With all these questions, I have to ask: does the Board think E.L.E. is going to be activated within the next 76 days?" said Sam intentionally using the correct term of the contingency plan to emphasize the point. If someone outside was listening then they were listening, but he had to know the answer.

"I don't know," Samantha answered truthfully as she tapped her pencil against her cheek. "Besides it's not like the Board can do much to stop it if they don't approve its use. Only Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves are needed to activate it."

Sam knew all of that already. "And where is Doctor Graves?" he asked about the one thing he didn't know as he took his feet of his desk and went looking through a file cabinet behind him. "I haven't seen him since the groundbreaking ceremony on Nublar back in '89. As for Jake and Henry, the last they heard from him was about six months ago when he called asking about something called…glucocorticoids." Sam said, reading through the information he'd collected on the elusive scientist.

"I don't have an answer for that one either. Except, I don't think he's dead since he's still on the payroll and receiving benefits," said Samantha frustrated at not having a lot of answers at the moment. "I'm trying to find out where he is. But it's not easy since I don't want Ludlow and the rest of the Board to know what I'm up to." She confessed. That hit Sam right between the eyes as he looked at her shocked by that admission. But that she was really going to all that trouble for them at risk to herself and her career further proved that the staff putting their trust in her and not the rest of the Board was the right decision.

"Sam, did you have any big work plans for today?" Samantha asked out of the blue. Sam shook his head.

"Some routine stuff here and there but I'm planning on taking it easy while I can," he admitted.

"Can I use your office today?" the Head of HR inquired.

"Go for it," said Sam glad the interrogation was over, and then getting up as Samantha took his chair.

"Oh and if you could look over the rest of these questions and get me your responses before I leave on Sunday, that'd be great," said the Board Member handing him her list. Sam looked them over briefly before nodding his head. He knew it couldn't have been that easy.

"Oh and one more thing," added Samantha before he could leave. "I know when someone in authority says 'we have not abandoned you' that means they pretty much have. Right now I'd say the Board doesn't care what happens to this island between now and when Jurassic Park: San Diego is opened," she began, not bothering to be tactful. "But as Head of Human Resources, I consider myself personally responsible for each and every one of your lives. I will try and be on this island as often as I can and I will not stop working hard to make sure the fate of this facility and its personnel doesn't include the fences failing in two and a half months. I promise."

"Thanks, Samantha," said Sam grateful. He then turned to leave and was out in the hallway when he nearly ran into Roberta Carter who looked at him startled.

"Oh hey, Bobbie, what's up?" he asked as he saw her hands shaking around her coffee mug.

"I-uh, I-," she stammered and then she looked over his shoulder and pointed. Sam turned around and stared at the approach of three individuals, one of which looked like he had an axe to grind.

"Company," he said to Samantha as he leaned into his office and then strategically withdrew from the area. Moments later Jack Thorne, Marty Gutierrez, and Richard Levine walked into the office.

"Are you available now?" asked Levine, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Samantha could only stare at him with a lack of pure resentment on her face.

Down the road, a truck carrying Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu raced towards the Workers Village and an upcoming verbal confrontation with her.


	32. An Afternoon Off

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: Stephanie Sandelder timidly entered into Peter Ludlow's office.

"Ah, Ms. Sandelder, please take a seat," said Ludlow motioning to the chair across from his desk. "Thank you for coming on such short notice and on your day off."

Stephanie nodded her head and sat down apprehensively.

"I was a little curious about what you said to me yesterday," Stephanie had to admit. Ludlow nodded his head.

"Perfectly understandable," he agreed. "But first let me pose a question to you. What is it we do here at InGen? And tell me everything you know, whether through official sources or not. I promise not to punish you for what you know."

Stephanie took a deep breath to try and buy time to collect her thoughts.

"I know that International Genetic Technologies, Inc., InGen Bio-Engineering for short, is a company heavily involved in bio-technology," Stephanie began with what was on all the official bios of the company. "The company first gained notoriety in the late 1970s when the original head of product development, Dr. Norman Atherton, succeeded in breeding a miniaturized adult elephant that was no bigger than a housecat. The company licensed out the necessary patents to do that to a number of interested firms and created a sizeable cash flow," she continued before hesitating as she had now reached a period of history that her knowledge went a little bit beyond official statements.

"Please go on," Ludlow requested, sensing her hesitation.

"But it turns out that cash source was only a temporary one. The genetic modifications used to miniaturize the creature were so unstable that any other creatures made the same way wouldn't live for very long. That plus the passing of Dr. Atherton in early 1981 effectively left InGen up the creek when the interest in the patents dried up," Stephanie pointed out. "The one bright spot was the hiring of Doctors Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu just prior to Atherton's passing. They were able to continue the work he had started and with the hiring of Dr. Gustavius Graves to take over as Head of Production six months after Atherton's death, they spearheaded a new direction for biotechnology that culminated in the completion of a secretive special project in 1984. That special project was then shopped around to a number of investors and attracted big attention in the Asian marketplace. It was this investment that has allowed InGen to continue to present day."

"And do you know what that project was?" Ludlow inquired, pointedly; not even the investors knew the whole story. Stephanie slowly nodded her head.

"They successfully cloned a dinosaur," she stated solemnly. "The Dinosaur Revivification Project."

Ludlow nodded his head, impressed by what she had managed to learn about the whole thing. "But I don't see any dinosaurs here, so where are they?" he asked, looking around the room.

"On the three islands InGen operates near Costa Rica," the receptionist answered, that being common knowledge inside the building, although what was actually on those islands was not. "Islas Nublar, Sorna, and Indigo. Or as they're referred to in company terms, Sites A, B, and C."

"Although Site A is now effectively demolished and Site C never really had any dinosaurs on it. That leaves just Site B with dinosaurs on it," Ludlow filled in on some details Stephanie was probably only vaguely aware of. He chose not to mention InGen's Kenya Facility also having dinosaurs as that was extremely classified and known to only a select few. "But other than that, you're right on the money with all of it."

"So, I answered your question, now you should answer mine," Stephanie reasoned. "Why are you asking me all of this?" she said at a complete loss.

Ludlow regarded her for a few moments as if doing an analysis in his head of how she would handle what he was about to say.

"It's because effective this afternoon, I intend to transfer you to Site B," Ludlow answered, revealing his true purpose for calling her in.

Isla Sorna: Samantha Brown was sitting behind Sam Stone's desk with her head resting on her hand not even bothering to hide her annoyance at Richard Levine who was across from her rattling off a list of demands from a piece of paper in his hands. Earlier, Jack Thorne had asked for the return of his BMW SUV which was still impounded on Indigo. Martin Gutierrez for his part had gone on a brief rant that he felt the island was in no way containing the creatures that lived on it. He then calmed down having said his peace and then said he wanted a tour of the entire beach of the island to prove his theory.

Samantha had politely thanked them both and said she'd look into it and both had been satisfied enough to leave. But once they were gone, Levine had pulled out his list and began reading from it. Samantha had originally tried to respond to some of his ridiculous requests but after he kept motoring through them and not allowing her to respond, she'd given up and diverted her attention between staring at him and then ignoring him while looking out the window.

She saw a truck roll into the village and into the parking garage and wondered what it would take for her to diplomatically get away from this conversation. But as she shot a quick glance towards Levine who was so focused on his list he didn't even notice she'd stopped paying attention, and then back to the road, her eyes brightened at what she saw.

Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were casually walking down the street towards the Operations Building as various workers came up and expressed their relief that they were alive after their spill on Nublar.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Levine; I hate to cut this short, but I have a prior appointment," Samantha said, immediately getting up. Levine's carefully planned rant sputtered out as he looked at her shocked that she was going to kick him out.

"But-but-," he began as he got up and Samantha physically pushed him from the room.

"You'll have to make an appointment for later," she said, not bothering to put up with his protests.

"I demand to see the genetics labs on this island!" Levine shot back knowing this was his last chance to say what he was really after.

"Sorry, that has nothing to do with the stability of the island," the Board Member said bluntly. The two entered into the hallway and Samantha shut the door behind her and subsequently marched off away from him.

"This isn't over!" shouted Levine after her, not bothering to embarrass himself by chasing after her.

"We'll see," said Samantha doubtful he'd ever change her mind. She then strode so quickly down the hall that the occasional worker in the hallway deliberately stepped to the side to avoid her. After a few moments of walking, she pushed through the lobby and immediately made her way through the glass doors to the outside. As soon as she did, she immediately saw Jake and Henry just down the steps staring up at her. The two scientists and the Board Member regarded each other for several moments before Samantha finally spoke up.

"You boys are going to tell me everything," she said straight to the point. Not bothering for an answer, she turned around and went back into the building as Jake and Henry looked at each other solemnly before following after her.

Further down the steps, Bobbie Carter watched them disappear into the building before heading off down the road. Earlier when Sam Stone had run into her outside of his office, he hadn't realized it wasn't just chance that they'd met. She'd been just outside deliberately listening to his conversation with Samantha Brown hoping to glean some information about what was really going on with the island. It was a fortunate coincidence that when Sam had run into her that Levine and his group had also been approaching and she'd quickly managed to point his direction that way. Otherwise, she'd have had a hard time explaining what she had been up to.

She'd heard bits and pieces of conversation but nothing that made much sense to her. She intended to write it down at the time but she'd forgotten to get a replacement notepad for the one she had lost when the clinic had been attacked by raptors. Looking through her pockets, she managed to find a pencil but was having trouble hunting down a piece of paper to write on while her memories of the conversation were still fresh.

"Looking for this?" asked a voice startling her. Bobbie looked up to see Tom, the worker who'd been right beside her in the clinic at the end, walking up to her. He was heavily bandaged but otherwise mobile and in his outstretched hand was Bobbie's trusty notepad.

"Tom, thank you!" said Bobbie extremely grateful. "Where did you find this?" she said in shock that it had turned up.

"I wish I knew," Tom responded truthfully. "I think the rescue team found it near me and gave it to me thinking it was mine. Once I was mobile again, I knew I had to give it back to you."

Bobbie nodded grateful as she took it back from him. "Sorry, how are you?" she asked, embarrassed her first concern had been for the notepad.

"Still in one piece, can't complain," said Tom lightly. "I should be in tip-top shape in another week or so."

"That's great," said Bobbie nodding her head. "Hey, thanks for all your help back at the clinic."

Tom nodded his head half-heartedly. "It's just too bad we couldn't save everyone."

"I know," said Bobbie solemnly. "But all we can do is go forward and make sure it doesn't happen again. Which I've been meaning to ask you, do you remember anything about what happened when those raptors attacked us in the hall?"

Tom shook his head. "All I remember is a bright flash and then waking up in the hospital. You?"

The same," Bobbie admitted. "But if I remember anything, I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Tom said, grateful before he winced at some pain on his body. "I've got to head back, see you around Dr. Carter."

"It's Bobbie," Roberta reminded him. "But yeah, you too."

Tom hobbled off as Roberta quickly flipped through the notes of her beat up and dirty notepad. Flipping page after page, she read the notes and memories started slowly flooding back to her about the terror she had experienced in that clinic when the raptors had invaded and slaughtered several coworkers.

Flipping to the final handwritten page, she stared at the three hastily written letters that confronted her: E.L.E.

And then memories came rapidly flashing through her mind: the P.A. system warning that E.L.E. had been activated, the raptors momentary confusion, and then their leaping through the air at them. But then another memory came to her that she hadn't recalled before; the lights in the ceiling suddenly flashing on full intensity and then the ceiling exploding outwards with chunks of debris raining down on Tom, her, and the raptors.

Thorne had been right in his analysis of the situation. Now Bobbie could only look around the Village around her trying to figure out what was going on with the island without any idea where to start.

And then an idea for a plan of action occurred to her and she snapped her notebook shut and put it in her pocket. She had a friend to go see on the beach.

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: "I thought you said I wasn't going to be punished for what I knew!" shouted Stephanie immediately, extremely irate at being mislead. Ludlow watched her passively for her to cool down before responding to her concern.

"It's not intended to be," he told her frankly. "What you just proved to me is that you can find out things that you aren't supposed to be aware of. And that's exactly what I need on Sorna right now." He admitted gravely. Stephanie could only stare at him at a total loss.

"What?" she asked, her face mirroring her confusion.

"Right now this company is a period of massive upheaval and change," Ludlow began. "You know some of this already. We had an accident on Isla Nublar and that has no longer made it viable location to display our…products," he continued. "As such, corporate attention has largely turned towards the San Diego Amphitheater and away from Isla Sorna. But therein is the problem because what happens on Sorna in the next two and a half months will impact this company for the rest of its existence. Much more so than whether or not Jurassic Park: San Diego actually launches." Ludlow further pointed out. "Without Site B, we have nothing."

"But don't you get regular reports from Site B?" asked Stephanie. Ludlow nodded his head.

"I do, but they're just words on a page," he responded helplessly. "They don't tell me the whole story of what's really going on. And I get the distinct impression that something is happening on that island that I am not fully aware of. Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu are troublemakers, you admitted that yourself. They have no reason to tell me what they're really up to and they never have since they've been with this company. Sam Stone, while the head of the island and a decent enough man, doesn't really have complete oversight or total knowledge of what's going on with that island and so his reports are lacking in certain areas," Ludlow ruminated. "Daniela St. Ives was someone I thought could start providing insightful views when she was transferred to Site B, but after recent events, I'm no longer so sure.

"Nicolette Stefrassa might also be able to give me a useful report if she wasn't so wrapped up in her work that all she can send me is a list of code violations she's observed," the COO said, narrowly avoiding rolling his eyes. "As for the others, well they're certainly capable of reporting on their departments but not much else. And that's because over the years they've developed their own little community…a family, if you will. For the most part they trust each other although they do have concerns about each other every now and then. But none of them really trust the InGen Board of Directors. Hence my problem…"

"Isolation breeds arrogance and contempt for remote forms of authority," Stephanie commented.

"Exactly," said Ludlow pleased that she had a grasp on the situation. "For the most part the rest of the Board and myself have been willing to overlook this lack of respect for our authority because the workers on that island are very dedicated individuals who enjoy what they do. They perform their jobs and perform them well and we have no problem with that, ordinarily.

"But now certain cost-saving measures are in effect that will end up depriving the workers of doing what they do best. It is my fear that this lack of motivation will further increase their isolation from the rest of the company. And that might continue even after normal working operations are resumed on that island."

"I see," said Stephanie understanding Ludlow's point. "That would be a problem."

"As such, I need someone on Sorna I know I can trust who can uncover the truth of what is going on and report back to me," Ludlow finished, "That person being you."

Stephanie had to mull over that now that Ludlow had laid it all out for her.

"You would be in-effect saving this company from an early grave. And you'd be well compensated for your efforts," the COO pointed out.

"And I'd be perfectly safe?" Stephanie needed to know. After all, she was effectively going to be sent to an island full of bloodthirsty animals who wouldn't hesitate to tear her limb from limb and then devour her afterwards.

"Of course," Ludlow promised. "Granted, yes, the island is running out of fuel reserves to power the perimeter fences and will be placed under lockdown. But in a little under two and a half months, the San Diego installation will open and those profits will go towards expediting fuel to Site B and it will no longer be a problem. And then you'll be transferred back here safe and sound."

Stephanie again had to think that over as Ludlow pushed a piece of paper over to her.

"It's all here in writing and I've already signed it," he informed her. "The rest is up to you."

Stephanie took the document and scanned the entire page, reading every line. She then pulled out her pen and then signed it.

"Good, I knew I could count on you," said Ludlow relieved.

"When do I start?" asked Stephanie curious. Ludlow looked slightly away at that question.

"Due to the lockdown going into effect Monday morning, in order to not raise suspicions you have to be on InGen's DC-3 leaving San Diego International Airport tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m," Ludlow told her. "Now, InGen is perfectly willing to settle all your accounts here while you're gone. So will there be any problems?"

That took the receptionist by surprise but she refused to show any sign of it on her face. "No, no problem."

"Good," said Ludlow glad this was all over with. He took out a packet of papers and slid it across the desk. "This is all the information you will need about the island, your new position, and your reasons for being transferred. You are free to call me while you're on that island but try to do so discreetly."

"Yes sir," said Stephanie refusing to back down now that the ink had dried. "If you'll excuse me, I now have a busy day ahead of me."

"Of course," said Ludlow accommodatingly. "Here, you can take my corporate credit card and return it to me tomorrow since I will also be on your flight. I have to give a speech on the final day of Jurassic Park."

Stephanie nodded her head and took his credit card and headed for the door.

"Thanks again, Stephanie," said Ludlow sincerely. The receptionist nodded her head and then was gone from sight. As soon as she was, a small smile spread across the COOs face before he turned his attention back to his a computer and the speech he had to give regarding InGen's future.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu were seated opposite Samantha Brown who was resting on top of Sam's desk with her notebook and pencil at the ready. She had shut the doors and the windows to give them some privacy but as a result it had made the room unbearable hot, which did nothing to stop their tensions from rising over what they knew was going to be discussed.

"Okay, spill it because I want to know the truth," she told the two scientists.

"About what?" asked Jake clueless. Samantha gave him an angry look.

"Don't play games with me, Whitacre, I'm not in the mood!" she snapped at him. The male scientist threw up his hands aggravated at being unjustly verbally attacked and just turned his head to stare out the window.

"That's not what he meant," Henry clarified trying to play diplomat. "We're not here to play games this time. We just don't know what it is you're looking to find out about."

Samantha looked at him and also at Jake after he turned his attention back on her. Both of them had the look of sincerity and also being tired of everything that happened over the past few weeks…too tired to try and pull her chain any longer.

"Thank you," the Board Member said, grateful and relieved. "What I want to know right off the bat is who stole the embryos? I know you that you know or at least that you have a pretty good idea. At least if Ludlow's attitude towards the two of you is to be believed."

Jake and Henry turned to look at each other and a silent debate seemed to occur between the two for a few moments before Henry spoke up.

"You don't know? He didn't tell you?" he asked, curious. Samantha shook her head.

"I've asked repeatedly but he's remained quiet on the subject," she mentioned.

"Why am I not surprised?" Jake grumbled under his breath as he rested his head on his hand and stared out the window at the village.

"Was it Biosyn?" asked the Board member. Jake barked at that.

"If it had been them he would've just told you," he muttered under his breath. His tone almost made Samantha say something to him but it was clear he was more upset about the whole situation and not at her.

"Although they were undoubtedly one of the two parties who tried to make a play for the canister on the docks," Henry revealed. "They just weren't the ones who made off with the canister."

"So who then?" asked Samantha with burning curiosity. And at the same time a nagging voice in the back of her head started telling her she wouldn't want to know.

"Well I only know of one other man who works for one other company with the resources to pull it off," Jake remarked. The nagging voice suddenly went quiet as a chill went down Samantha's spine and she immediately sat straight up with a feeling of dread pouring over her.

"Which would be?" she asked in a hushed tone. Jake gave her a look of disappointment that she would be in such denial about the truth.

"You know who," Henry said, forcing her to realize the truth. Samantha's heart dropped in her stomach upon hearing that.

"John…it was John wasn't it?" she said in reference to Pacific Pharmaceuticals Executive, John Brown.

"Yes," said Henry half-way between annoyance at John's actions and sympathy for the situation Samantha was now in.

"Why would he do something like that?" Samantha growled, knowing the two scientists were right.

"Well, Jake and I have known John a long time, but we were hoping you could tell us what you thought," Henry admitted.

"After all, he is your ex-husband," Jake pointed out.

Silence descended on the trio.


	33. What It All Means

West Beach, Isla Sorna: Workers were either enjoying their time in the water, building sandcastles, and more to spend their day off. In a lounge chair underneath an umbrella, a book sat unread as Lori Ruso was seen snoozing away.

WHHOOOOOOSHHHHHHHH!

Her sleep was then forcibly interrupted as Katrice Maken went rocketing past down the beach and out of sight. In her wake, sand went flying everywhere. As Lori woke up spitting out sand while brushing herself off, Colin Maken stumbled down the beach still in pursuit of his sister.

"Give it up, you're never going to catch her," Lori called out to him. "That girl runs faster than a galimimus."

"Yeah," Colin wheezed out of breath in complete agreement over the statement. "But you don't often get to choose who your family is. And so I don't have much of a choice but to keep chasing after her."

After catching his breath, he continued his pursuit.

Sam Stone's Office, Operations Building, Isla Sorna: "As you two well know, I was married to him for five years. And if there's one I learned about the man it's that he likes to keep everything close to his chest," Samantha said, still miffed after having been separated for four years. "That was one of the reasons we got a divorce in the first place."

"No argument here," said Jake in full agreement about her comment regarding John Brown's need for secrecy.

"You're sure he was responsible for taking the embryos?" Samantha felt she had to ask, while also trying to get away from the subject of her personal life.

"Back when we were last in Costa Rica, we saw him with a team of individuals. One of them being a computer programmer," Henry began. "We saw her again amongst the programmers leaving Sorna and she wasn't happy about something. She even apologized for what had happened," Henry admitted. He knew that wasn't the entire truth, but there wasn't any reason to bring up Sheila; especially since he hadn't given her the message yet.

"So can we use her to pin something on John?" asked Samantha partway been hopefulness and asking for advice.

"Not really because we have nothing concrete tying them together besides our say so," Jake pointed out. "And you know John and his way with manipulating the truth. In a case of 'he said' 'she said', we're practically guaranteed to lose against him."

"And besides that, the programmer was right in something else she said to us," Henry continued. "If John doesn't know we're onto him, then that gives us the advantage."

Samantha nodded her head as she absently doodled on her notebook to try and concentrate her thoughts.

"But again, why would he want those embryos in the first place?" Samantha still wondered. "They're non-viable and the genetic code is probably a big mess by now. Could he reconstruct the genetic codes from them?" she inquired.

"It's possible," said Henry noncommittally. "But I'm not sure why he'd go to the trouble. Since he knows about the embryos, he'd also have to know how we're cloning the dinosaurs in the first place. Going that route would be a lot simpler."

"Plus there's the fact that Dodgson showed up," Jake also pointed out. "Non-viable embryos aren't going to do him much good either. And I doubt that embryo canister could be tied to him. So what was his interest in the whole thing?" Jake said, ominously.

It was another question none of them had an answer for.

Pacific Pharmaceuticals Headquarters, San Diego: Lorne, Serena, and Chip were in the bay celebrating the successful retrieval of the embryo canister. Further up above, John Brown and Jeff Thomas were visible through glass windows from John's office.

"Congratulations, you pulled it off," said John pleased. He did have faith in his employees to get the job done but being in such isolated surroundings didn't leave much room for error.

"Well it wasn't easy," Jeff had to admit, thereby confirming John's suspicions. "Especially considering what was _on_ that island."

John laughed a little bit unsteadily at that. "Yeah, sorry about not keeping you guys on the up and up. I figured if I told you what InGen was really up to, you either wouldn't believe me or would be too scared to even suggest going to that island of your own free will."

"I'm still trying to come to terms with what I saw there," Jeff stated. "Drawing up plans to take out a stubborn group of dilophosaurs was something I never thought of in my wildest dreams."

John had the embryo canister in his hand and he unscrewed the top of the shaving can, pulled it off, and looked at the hidden embryos underneath.

"They're in better shape than I thought they would be," John confessed as he pulled out a small portable refrigeration unit and began transferring each one into it.

"If you don't mind my asking, now that we have them, what do you want with them?" Jeff asked after a moment's hesitation about bringing up the subject.

John shook his head. "You know how this works," he reminded his worker. "If I feel it's worth telling you, then I'll tell you."

Jeff knew better than to be disappointed by that statement, so instead he tried a different tact.

"She wanted to know," he said cryptically. That caused John to pause briefly in his work but his expression otherwise revealed nothing.

"She who?" he asked finally.

"You don't need me to answer that," Jeff said dismissively. John finally put away the last embryo and then forcibly closed the lid shut. He then leaned back in his chair and looked at Jeff.

"If there's one thing you need to know about Samantha, it's this," the Executive warned. "She has an unstoppable desire to know the truth about anything and everything. If she gets wind of some secret being kept from her or feels some mystery is going on, she won't stop until she finds the answer.

"However, sometimes the truth needs to be hidden for good reason, but she can't…won't accept that. And that's where we clashed more often than not," John concluded, not willing to reveal more about his personal life. "So, did she figure out who you were or who you worked for?"

Jeff immediately shook his head. "No," he answered.

"Good," said John pleased. "See that it stays that way," he ordered coldly.

Jeff nodded his head, knowing John's ex-wife was undoubtedly a sore spot with him. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go get Cassie from the airport."

John absently waved his dismissal as he was now deeply focused on his computer. As Jeff left, John watched him go before sighing to himself.

"Damnit, Sam, for once in your life, let it go," he pleaded softly. But he had no time for any more such thoughts and he picked up the refrigeration unit and took it with him to have its contents analyzed.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: "There's something else you're not telling me, isn't there?" Samantha accused of Jake and Henry. The two scientists again exchanged a sideways glance before nodding their heads.

"Yes," Henry admitted finally.

"But you won't tell me what it is, will you?" the Board Member said knowingly.

"Not right now, no," Jake agreed with a slight shake of his head.

"And why not?" demanded Samantha partly hurt at their lack of trust in her despite everything she'd done already to try and earn their trust.

"Because we're not sure what's really going on," Henry told her. "We'd rather not have a panic on our hands based solely on something we can't prove yet."

Samantha sighed as she stopped writing and clasped her hands together on top of her notebook.

"What is it going to take to get you two to trust me?" she asked frankly. Jake for his part blew out a long breath.

"It's been three very long weeks since Jurassic Park fell and in that time we haven't received an official report on what happened," the scientist began, feeling extremely weary about the whole sequence of events. "Are we going to get one anytime soon?"

Samantha nodded her head. "Peter is still going to continue his investigation, but a preliminary report will be issued to you when the lockdown goes into effect."

"A heavily collated and sanitized report," Henry pointed out. Samantha gave him a look of pure confusion.

"What does that mean?" she asked. She wasn't sure what else he was expecting.

"If you want us to trust you then we need a showing of good faith on your part," Jake told her. "We need the raw testimony of Alan Grant's time at Jurassic Park."

That completely threw Samantha for a loop.

"Alan Grant, why him?"

"Because what little we got out of the survivors immediately after they left Jurassic Park was that he'd spent some unsupervised time out in the park itself when he tried to get back to the Visitors Center from the T-Rex attack," Henry supplied.

"We need to know if he saw something out there," Jake concluded.

"Which was?" Samantha said, completely drawn in by their mysterious tale.

"If you read it yourself, you'll either know what we're talking about or else realize we were wrong," Henry told her even more mysteriously.

"But I don't have access to the unedited testimony, only Ludlow and Daniel Ross do," the Board Member protested, hoping they'd let her in on what they were really after.

"Then you have a problem," said Jake unsympathetically. "But then again, I've never known you to let go of finding out the truth about anything." He goaded. Samantha gave him a half-hearted scowl before finally giving a slight smile.

"You two know me so well," she said wistfully. "But that shouldn't be a surprise considering how many times we've butted heads over the years. I'll see what I can do."

"Excellent," said Henry pleased. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"Just one more," Samantha promised. "Tomorrow I'll be bringing Daniela up to speed on E.L.E. and may also bring in Lori as well. So I have to know; E.L.E., will it work?"

"Are you asking because you're hoping it won't or…," began Henry concerned.

"I'm asking because either way people's lives will be at stake," Samantha reminded them. "I want to know it will do what you've promised it will."

Henry shook his head lightly at her comment. "But you know we have no way of knowing if it will work or not until it goes into effect. And it will only work once. We can't stop it, step away, and then come back to it. Especially considering what's at stake."

Samantha wrote some notes down on her notebook before looking up at them again. "How many days before the fences fail does E.L.E. need to be activated so it'll be done before they go?"

Jake and Henry talked back and forth about a couple details that were lost on Samantha before returning their attention to her.

"We'll need two days prep-time and then fifteen more to pull it off," Henry told her. "And that's rushing things."

"But Jurassic Park: San Diego isn't supposed to be open to the general public until September 12th," said Samantha.

"Look, if E.L.E. doesn't go into effect by September 1st then that's it, we'll be at the mercy of the fences," Jake forced her to recognize. "Five days isn't going to cut it for getting it done. And I'm sure not going to tell anybody in advance about E.L.E. if we're not actually going to through with it. Telling the staff about it and then not activating it would be worse than if it was activated."

Samantha recalled her previous talk with Ed Regis and his insistence that if E.L.E. was to be activated, there would have to be a cover-up to make sure the outside world never learned of it.

"Well as I see it, we don't know what's going to happen until we get closer to September," Samantha commented, "Especially since without Doctor Graves you can't activate Stage 3 of E.L.E. anyway. And that's what really makes it all work."

"We'll figure something out," Henry promised before consulting his watch. "And right now Jake and I have a busy schedule that we'd like to get a start on."

"Fine, you're dismissed," said Samantha with a flick of her hand. The two scientists immediately shuffled towards the exit.

"It won't come to this," Samantha swore, as she had before when it came to E.L.E. Jake opened his mouth like he wanted to say something but ultimately thought better of it and left without a word.

Alone in the room, Samantha looked down at her notebook and re-read what she had written. It didn't escape her notice that there was one thing she had deliberately not written down.

"Damnit John," she swore. "Just for once, why can't you leave us alone?"

Visitors Center, Isla Indigo: Daniela St. Ives was on the phone with Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton while glancing over notes on the final preparations for shutting down Site C.

"So we'll be coming in on the flight tomorrow and staying the week," Kelly told her. "And we want to help you as much as we can when Dr. Levine doesn't need us."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," said Daniela sincerely. "I'll let you know what I need you to do when you get here."

Kelly hung up the phone and immediately she was buzzed by her secretary.

"There's a 'Tim the Computer Man' from Sorna here to see you," stated the woman on the other line. A small smile crossed Daniela's face at Tim's habit of rarely mentioning his last name to anyone.

"I'll be right out," she confirmed. Putting her notes away, she exited her office where Tim was waiting.

"Hey Tim, long time no see," the Head of Indigo said with a quick handshake, glad to see him. The two then headed off out of the office for the Control Room.

"Wouldn't you consider that a good thing?" the programmer asked pointedly. Daniela laughed at that.

"Well, all the same it'll be good to be on the same island with you and Sheila. Before all this mess happened with Jurassic Park you two were supposed to rotate between Sites B and C," she reminded him.

"I'm sure Sheila would rather be here," Tim pointed out as the two walked down the steps past the large three glass windows through which the Control Room could be seen. Daniela flashed her card through the reader and it opened and the two walked into the empty room, identical to the one that had been in the Visitors Center at Jurassic Park.

"Kind of surreal being in here since I was just in the original one yesterday," Tim commented as the two of them walked over to the main computer terminal and Tim fired it up and logged in. He then went into the settings menu and began writing a special computer program.

"You ever figure out what Nedry did to K.O. Nublar?" asked Daneila curious. Tim shook his head, although in truth he was trying to figure that out.

"Best guess is he set up a hidden trap door to kill the security system while he went off to do whatever," the programmer figured. "Okay, I've set up the system so that when you activate this program here," Tim explained while tapping the appropriate icon on the screen with his hand, "it will automatically shut down everything on this island. From there it's just a matter of walking over to the master control board over there and flipping the four switches. Then you can leave."

"That simple, huh?" said Daniela a little disappointed that her life's work could be ended with only a computer click and a flick of a switch. Tim didn't respond to her comment he just leaned back in his chair and looked at her.

"Do me a favor; if Sheila or you ever find out what Nedry did, let me know," the Head of Indigo requested. Tim was a little surprised by that request but nodded his head. He then powered down the console and the two got up and headed back for the exit.

"Oh, and one more favor," Daniela added as Tim inwardly cringed wondering what it could be. "With the lockdown going into effect in two days, I wanted to know if you could get me some things from the mainland," she requested while producing a list. She laughed a little nervously as Tim lightly groaned.

"I'll just add it to the lists I already have," he relented as he took the list. Daniela for her part just gave him a big smile.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Samantha Brown was reading Sam Stone's reports on how the Lockdown preparations were proceeding when there was a knock at the office door. At the entryway, she saw Veterinarian Gerry Harding waiting to come in.

"Hello, Gerry, please take a seat," said Samantha as she powered down her monitor and took her notebook out. "Thanks for showing up on such short notice."

"I'm not really going to refuse a summons from a member of the Board of Directors," Harding pointed out to her. "Especially when they lead Human Resources."

Understanding crossed Samantha's face and she gave him a disarming smile. "If you're expecting a performance evaluation, I'm sorry to have to disappoint you. Sam Stone is still giving those and so far he hasn't reported on anything to get my attention."

Harding was slightly relieved at that but still refused to completely let his guard down.

"So then why…,"

"I'm mainly here to touch base with how the employees are doing with the lockdown about to put into effect," Samantha confessed as she clasped her hands together. "And I haven't spoken with you in quite awhile so it makes me feel like I've been neglecting you."

Harding shook his head. "I wasn't happy about the lockdown when you first announced it and I'm still not. But there's nothing I can do about it. I just have to live with it, we all do."

"That's true," Samantha conceded. "But yours is a unique case amongst the essential personnel on this island. Very few have immediate families and even fewer have children; while you have a wife and two daughters, one of whom is in High School."

Harding felt a slight bubble of aggravation at her bringing up his family, but he knew her position required her to examine all possible angles when it came to how the employees were likely going to behave under certain circumstances, in this case the Lockdown.

"Gerry, nobody would think less of you if you left before the Lockdown went into effect," Samantha promised him. To that Harding could only sigh.

"I do miss my wife, Jessica, and Sarah," Harding had to admit. "But being here is what's important because it allows food to be put on the table back home. That helps me get through the day and after the Lockdown passes, I'll do everything I can to make up for my absence."

Samantha listened to what he said and looked like she wanted to say more on the subject, but ultimately decided to let it go.

"Okay, but if you do want to talk about it while the Lockdown is in effect, feel free to get in touch with me," the Head of Human Resources requested. Harding nodded his head but didn't know whether he ever would or not.

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" he asked, wanting to get away from the previous subject.

"I do, but it's on a completely different topic," Samantha said as she got up and closed the door to the room. Harding watched her actions with some apprehension.

"Well, go right ahead," he said, figuring there was no point but to dive right into it.

"I'd like you to tell me about the A-1 Incident," Samantha informed him in reference to the event when three Deinonychus Dinosaurs escaped from Jurassic Park and successfully made it across the ocean to Costa Rica.

West Beach, Isla Sorna: Lori Ruso was applying suntan lotion as a second van with trailer appeared on the beach and the next wave of workers spread out across the beach. As she turned her attention to her sunglasses, she was rubbing sand off of them when a shadow fell over her.

Looking up, LoRu saw Bobbie Carter in cutoff jeans and a tank top.

"Damn, girl, nice outfit," commented LoRu approvingly. "I thought you weren't going to wear that again after Jake…"

"Ah, screw Jake, I'm enjoying my day off," said Bobbie dismissively as she took her towel and laid it down next to LoRu and began rummaging through her tote bag. Lori watched her for a few moments and noted how she was absently fishing for things as if her mind was on something else.

"Alright, out with it. What did you want to ask me?" said the Head of Production as she put on her sunglasses and leaned back in her lounge chair. Bobbie sighed.

"Confession time," Bobbie prefaced her next comments with as Lori gave a nod of her head in acknowledgment. "I've been really worried about what's going to happen in 76 days."

"Since you're the resident M.D., I'm hardly surprised," Lori stated.

"But it's more than just concern for the lives of everyone on this island," Bobbie continued. "You weren't really kept much in the loop about what happened when the raptors broke into the clinic because you had the tour group. But something happened that I can't explain. And that something has me worried."

Lori didn't have an immediate reply to that as she knew the Doctor was trying to get things off her chest.

"It involves E.L.E. and I still don't know what it is," Bobbie finished, a little scared by that term.

"Well I told you what little I know about it," LoRu reminded her. "It's a contingency plan in case of dinosaur containment failure. But I don't think it's something to be concerned about."

"Except that contingency plan involved a low-level explosive that blew up a large piece of ceiling tile in my clinic," the Doctor told her of something she didn't know. "And I think that's only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to that plan."

"Oh," said Lori at a loss and a little surprised by that.

"I'm going to find out what E.L.E. is," Bobbie swore. "I just wish I knew where to start."

Lori's mind flash back to last night's conversation with Samantha Brown and her mentioning she might have to bring her into the fold on what E.L.E. entailed.

"Oh, I think you do," the Head of Production said as a brief smile crossed her face at Bobbie's confusion. "You should consult your favorite and most trusted resource."

Bobbie had to think about it for a few moments before she realized what Lori was referring to. Whenever she started a research project, she always consulted a dictionary. Lori for her part began laughing hysterically as Bobbie gave her an exaggerated grumpy expression.

"I don't need a dictionary to do this!" she said dramatically as she tipped over Lori's beach chair and the woman sprawled out onto the sand still laughing. And soon Bobbie joined her and found herself finally enjoying her day.

Isla Indigo: The DC-3 soared through the air over the Visitors Center before heading north towards San Diego. Down below, Daniela St. Ives was back in her office packing her things into cardboard boxes for the trip to Sorna tomorrow. While she didn't necessarily need to pack everything since she'd be returning here in two and a half months, she didn't want to leave anything behind in case she needed it later and the Lockdown wouldn't let her back onto Indigo.

As she packed up some books from her bookshelf, she came across a pocket dictionary and looked it over. As she did this, she remembered her pleading with Jake and Henry for information on E.L.E. and how their only response was "Katie".

Shrugging to herself, she flipped to the Ks and read the entry for Katie. Katie was an English feminine name that in Greek meant "pure". That didn't really help her at all because she had a cousin named Kaitlyn and knew all this already.

Sighing, she snapped the dictionary closed and stared at the remainder of her bookshelf. Her eyes then fell over a series of leather bound tomes with comprehensive information on all known dinosaurs that had been a Christmas present one year from John Hammond. The tomes were broken up into parts of the alphabet and on the spines read: "A-D", "E-G" and so forth.

Thinking back to "Katie", Daniela flipped the dictionary back open and looked at the entry labeled "K-T". To her surprise, there was an entry there. The first part of the entry suggested to the viewer that it was a misspelling of "Katie" to which Daniela groaned briefly before reading further. But the next entry grabbed her attention as it read: "See Cretaceous-Tertiary Event". Cretaceous was a word well known to her in the line of work she was in as it referred to the final time period in which the dinosaurs had lived.

Flipping to the appropriate entry, she read what the entry had to say:

Cretaceous-Tertiary Event (n)-Occurred approximately 65 million years ago. Whether through an asteroid impact, virus, climate change, or other means, it resulted in the immediate mass eradication of 75 percent of all known species residing on the planet. This is the event which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.


	34. A1 Incident Revisited

Embryonics Administration, Isla Sorna: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu marched up the stairs into the building, which was virtually deserted. That suited the two scientists just fine as they had work to do and wanted to be undisturbed. They walked through the lobby and straight into the production area. They walked along the catwalk over the incubation chambers, tanks, and other genetic technologies. Amongst the work areas, some scientists mulled about examining their work while a couple janitors swept up the area. They each waved to Jake and Henry who waved back, but the two otherwise continued on their journey.

After traversing the length of the large chamber, the two finally walked down a metal staircase to the ground floor. After walking past a row of tanks containing various dinosaur fetuses that hadn't reached maturity and were being analyzed for possible genetic defects, the two arrived at a pair of large steel doors built into the wall. Pulling out his keycard, Henry swiped it in the card reader and the sound of the doors unlocking was heard and then they slowly slid apart while mist then drifted outside. Inside were numerous embryo cold storage containers.

"If Dodgson knew these were here do you think he still would've hired Nedry to steal the embryos from Nublar?" Jake asked, curious what his friend thought.

"Maybe Dennis contacted him and never told him about Sorna," Henry figured. "After all, it's not like he ever had a reason to be out this far into the island once the Crays were online."

Jake pulled up one of the cryogenic units and glanced through the embryos inside. He pulled an embryo for the Tyrannosaurus Rex, told Henry the unit number on it, and then placed it in a small portable freezer before closing the cryogenic chamber. Henry meanwhile made a notation on a clipboard hanging on the wall with what embryo was being taken and for what reason; in this case, research.

The two then exited out of the embryo chamber and the metal doors slid shut behind them. Without wasting a moment, the scientists then immediately headed for the genetic testing labs in the building.

UCLA, Berkley: "Ancient diseases?" asked the scientist friend of Sarah Harding's as he looked over the amber piece the two Harding sisters had brought him.

"Yeah," said Jess Harding with a nod of her head. "Mosquitoes carry diseases and I'm guessing that one is pretty old."

"Except while some companies do dabble in ancient diseases, it's mainly to understand where current diseases came from," the scientist mentioned. "Older diseases aren't around as much anymore because either the human body overcame them and they can't do anymore damage, medicine was made to boost the body's immune system, or the diseases mutated to become the more virulent forms we know of today."

"Oh," said Jess completely unaware of that fact.

"Besides, while InGen keeps a lot of things secret, I do know they're not a pharmaceuticals company," the scientist continued. "Who are their head scientists?"

Sarah immediately flipped through her notes and found the information she'd dug up earlier.

"Doctors Gustavius Graves, Jake Whitacre, and Henry Wu," she answered. The scientist turned thoughtful at that.

"Doctor Graves is a really well known biogenetics researcher," the scientist began. "He was involved with the Human Genome Project for a few years trying to completely decode the Human DNA strand."

"Why would InGen want him?" asked Sarah, curious. "I don't think they were ever involved in that sort of work."

"No, I don't think they were either," the scientist agreed. "Although, Dr. Graves primary background was in animal research. I think I read somewhere that he worked on the genome project in the hopes that he could apply what they were learning about decoding human DNA strands with animals as well. Figure out what sort of creatures they were and what they could become, things like that."

"You're talking about evolution," Sarah stated. Jess's head slowly rose up upon hearing that word. Faint images began to pass through her field of vision and she could hear mumbled words that she couldn't fully make out. She shook her head to try and get rid of them.

The scientist nodded his head. "That might explain what he's doing working with Whitacre and Wu, who are also geneticists," he offered. "Those two became famous when they received their Ph.D.s while only halfway through their doctoral program at Stanford after successfully cloning that dodo bird."

"Oh, that's right," said Sarah recalling the whole event back when she was just starting out in college. "I remember it caused a lot of debate among animal behaviorists about whether or not studying the creature's actions would have any relation to how the extinct creatures lived."

Hearing the word "extinct" immediately thwarted Jess's attempts to stop the visions in her head as now they flashed with more clarity and greater intensity while she heard voices cry out in confusion and terror along with the sounds of creatures she couldn't recognize. A feeling of fear came over her and she held her head in her hands and clenched her eyes tight to try and stop the images and noises. It wasn't working.

"As I recall, shortly after they got their doctorates they bailed on Stanford and set up their own genetics company out in Palo Alto," the scientist continued. "It didn't last too long because InGen came knocking on their door and bought them out. The two went to work for them and ended up back under the guidance of their former advisor at Stanford, Norman Atherton, who was also hired by InGen."

"Let me guess, another geneticist?" Sarah asked. The scientist nodded.

"Also involved with animal research," he further clarified. "He passed away around twelve years ago."

Sarah figured this was interesting information, but needed to relate it back to her search. "So they're geneticists who work with animal DNA and two of them work with extinct ones. So I guess my next questions would be, how old is that mosquito and what animals might it have been sucking blood from?"

The scientist spun over in his chair and looked at an analysis program he'd been running and read the computer screen.

"Wow, this sucker's old. I can't give you an exact date, but the carbon dating analysis I started running as soon as you let me see that fragment puts it at about 175 million years in the past," the scientist determined, impressed that something had lasted so long.

"What was going on then?" asked Sarah, a little oblivious to events that far back.

"That was the Jurassic period during 'The Age of Reptiles'," the scientist answered. The word "Jurassic" caused Jess's entire body to start involuntarily shaking as the images flashed faster and faster with more and more clarity as the phantom words she heard also became easier to hear and understand.

"So you're saying this thing was biting dinosaurs?!" said Sarah incredulously as she took the sample back from him. The word "dinosaur" made Jess bite down on her tongue to keep from yelling out.

"Yeah, so I guess InGen is now in the business of bringing dinosaurs back from the dead through cloning," said the scientist laughing hysterically at such an absurd idea that couldn't be physically possible. Sarah could only stare at the amber fragment as a thousand ideas passed through her head.

"Hey, is your sister okay?" asked the scientist cutting into her thoughts. Sarah turned and saw the state Jess was in and quickly rushed over to her.

"Jess, Jess, what's going on?" asked Sarah extremely concerned.

"Help me," Jess pleaded desperately as tears were seen streaming down her face. "I can't stop these images and sounds in my head."

Sarah quickly collected her things and thanked her colleague before wrapping her arms around her sister and helping her up and leading her out the door. Jess stumbled back and forth despite Sarah holding onto her and the two exited the building and Sarah took her to her jeep.

"Jess, was it something we said that's triggering this?" asked Sarah desperately as she buckled in her sister and then belted herself in and fired up her jeep. "Was it "extinct", "dinosaur", "Jurassic Period", what?" she prodded, hoping that maybe some remembrance of the events that had caused Jess's memory loss might cause her pain to go away.

"No, it wasn't a Jurassic '**period**'!" shouted Jess fixated on that word as she shook her head violently as physical pain was now ripping through her head. "It was a Jurassic…PARK!" Upon saying those words, "Jurassic Park", the images abruptly stopped, the voices went away and the pain abruptly vanished from Jess's mind.

As Sarah Harding could only sit in wonder at what had just been said-as well as with fear for the wellbeing of her sister-Jess Harding suddenly gave a loud bone-chilling scream.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: "Is there anything specific you'd like to know about A-1?" asked Gerry Harding curious. "I assume you read the internal report on the incident and I really don't have much to add that isn't in it."

"Just start at the beginning with the three Deinoncyhus dinosaurs," Samantha requested as she took a sip of water from her thermos. Harding sighed softly before nodding his head.

"When we first built the Park, nothing really worked right," Harding began. "The staff mainly had some security concerns if a vicious predator were to get loose during one of the many power outages we had. Due to that, the Velociraptors were placed in their specially designed pen that was directly connected to their power system. As for the Deinonychus dinosaurs, they were placed in a regular enclosure near the beach since that was about as far away as you could get from the Visitors Center.

As the months rolled on, the eight raptors would occasionally test the fences for ways out but were otherwise pretty tame. But the three Deinonychus's behavior was a total mystery. At times they would restless stalk the entire perimeter of their enclosure, but they would never bother attacking the fences. But what was really strange was that for a few hours each day, the three creatures would stand on the beach just inside the fences and stare out at the ocean towards Costa Rica completely oblivious to everything else," he continued. "It was their one behavior that was so consistent that you could almost set your watch to it."

"Were they catching some scents from Costa Rica?" asked Samantha curious. Harding shook his head.

"No, because the mainland was 120 miles away to the east and the jet stream was headed that way so they shouldn't have been able to smell anything. But they'd still stand there and look straight at Costa Rica and we could never figure out why," Harding remarked. "And then a couple years later in early '91, Jurassic Park finally experienced a catastrophic power failure to the fences. We lost power to nearly every part of the island and just about all the dinosaurs got loose from the stegosaurus to the triceratops and even the Tyrannosaurus Rex."

Samantha looked down at the A-1 Report and flipped through it.

"Nedry said it was because of rats chewing on the security system cables," she read.

"Well regardless, it was a complete disaster," Harding replied. "Two workers died, one was injured, and two more were mauled. We also lost a stegosaurus that the Rex decided to make a meal out of. But that wasn't even the scariest part of it all…"

Samantha didn't need to read her report to know what he was referring to. "Things really hit the fan when the motion trackers counted all the stock on the island and came up short on three Deinonychus."

Harding nodded still remembering the fear that had swept through the entire staff when that fact came to light.

"Everything went into lockdown on Nublar while Muldoon and any able bodied worker swept the entire island looking for them," Harding said, and he'd been one of them. "And we couldn't find any trace of them. Jake and Henry were then flown to Nublar so they could also look at the situation and they were the ones who first suggested looking at the beach outside of their pen."

"Where you found footprints leading out to the ocean," Samantha filled in. Harding nodded his head.

"Hammond was furious when he found out about the failure of the security system to keep the animals contained. Ludlow was mad as well because of how expensive it had been to bring those specimens to full maturity just to lose them to the ocean," Harding recalled.

"So you never thought they'd make it to Costa Rica?" Samantha wondered. Harding shook his head.

"It was 120 miles away in an ocean with unpredictable waters. Jake jokingly suggested InGen could still recoup their losses if the dinosaurs survived the swim but tensions were running so high that Ludlow practically chased him off Nublar," the veterinarian responded frankly. Samantha continued reading through the report.

"So the disappearance of a few fishing trawlers between Nublar and Costa Rica didn't raise any alarm bells?" she asked.

Harding scoffed at that. "Fishing boats had been lost around these parts for years beginning well before we set up shop. We specifically chose to put Site B in the middle of Los Cinco Muertos because the local fishermen were too scared to go there; less prying eyes or accidental visits that way."

"So when did you first realize something was wrong?" asked Samantha wanting to hear his recollection of the events rather than to read it from a stark report.

"A week and a half or so after the incident, a major American university had sent a team of researchers to the jungles of Costa Rica to catalog plants for medicinal properties under a grant from a large pharmaceuticals company," Harding answered. "After one of their excursions, they returned to find their camp completely torn to shreds. That by itself wasn't too strange as vicious carnivores such as pumas and jaguars were known to inhabit the area. What was particularly disturbing was that the team's Wilderness Environment Intruder Response Defenses had been completely useless in killing at least one of the intruders.

Plus it was what was taken that also caused a lot of confusion. All the cans of meat were ripped up but so were all the cans of beans and other foods rich in lysine. You don't find too many omnivores who can do damage like that. But what sealed the deal was that a camera had also been setup to record the camp while the researchers were away. It was knocked over in the initial attack but it picked up blurry images of three large bipedal creatures along with a distinctive roar before the unit was crushed by one of them.

Upon the team returning to civilization, the tape was immediately confiscated by Costa Rica's Department of Wildlife and they handed it over to us for analysis. It wasn't too hard to figure out what had happened to the campsite," Harding concluded grimly.

Samantha whistled softly at that as she looked at grainy photos from the video camera.

"So Hammond and Ludlow did their best to make sure very few at InGen were aware of what was happening on the mainland," she noted. "And in order to keep a lid on it in Costa Rica he immediately assigned some of the senior staff on Nublar and Sorna to deal with the problem."

"Robert Muldoon, Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, and I were sent to Costa Rica to try and track them down," Harding continued, still a little shaken by his remembrance of those days.

"Were you supposed to bring them back alive or dead?" Samantha wanted to know. Harding sighed softly.

"Alive if possible, otherwise…," he trailed off to make his point. "Anyway, we interviewed the research team and then went out into the jungle having no idea what we were doing. Henry had managed to cobble together a tracker that would ping when we got in close proximity of the dinosaurs' tracking chips but we still wandered around aimlessly for a couple days despite Muldoon's tracking skills.

On the third day, we were having our early morning breakfast with some watered down coffee when we smelled smoke and soon saw it drifting off in the distance. We didn't even bother to pack up; we just grabbed our weapons and ran towards the flames. Soon we heard screams and shouts and we only ran faster and faster not even thinking about what we would see when got to our destination," said Harding shuddering. "And what we saw was something I'll never forget for the rest of my life."

The heat of the flames, the smell of the smoke, the visions of death and destruction, and above it all three harbingers of death came back to him as if the event had only happened yesterday.

Embryonics Administration: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu entered into the genetics testing laboratory and found Sheila Matula sitting at one of the consoles. The female programmer turned and looked at the two scientists confused as they did the same.

"What are you doing here?" they all asked each at the same time.

"I'm shutting down the Crays because they consume too much power," Sheila answered before she blew a bubble with her gum and popped it. That wasn't something the two scientists had been expecting, but it made sense and they hadn't had many opportunities to consult the power saving schedule lately.

"Does it have to be done today?" Jake asked. Sheila nodded her head.

"I shut down two of them last week and I'm shutting down the other two today," she answered.

"But does it specifically have to be done _today_?" Henry insisted.

"Well, not specifically today but it has to be done before the lockdown starts," Sheila answered as she looked at the wall clock. "Which by my count is less than 33 hours away," she pointed out.

"Well we only need one Cray for the next 24 hours so shut down one Cray today and the other tomorrow afternoon," Jake told her. Sheila gave him an annoyed look at his suggestion.

"I have a schedule of my own to keep and I'm answerable to Carly who is answerable to Lori about why these Crays aren't turned off," she said, refusing to back down.

"And those two are answerable to us," Jake reminded her. "So we'll deal with the consequences."

Sheila could only look at them strangely. "Why do you need a Cray for anyway, I thought further dinosaur cloning had been called off," she wondered. Jake and Henry didn't want to have to answer that question and both quickly tried to think up a different way to direct the conversation.

"She said she's really, really sorry," Henry told her, finally. Sheila wasn't immediately sure what he was referring to but gradually it sunk who he was talking about and her eyelids slowly closed to try and block out the tears threatening to form.

"Shit," she said softly with her eyes still closed.

"Who was she?" asked Jake curious. "We know she works for John Brown and Pacific Pharmaceuticals."

Sheila debated whether or not to tell them the truth.

"She's my sister," she admitted to, finally as she opened her eyes. "Are you going to tell Sam or the Board?" she had to know, a little fearful. Jake and Henry both shook their heads.

"No," Henry stated. "Not because of blackmail or because we don't want you to shut down the Crays, but because it's not our secret to tell," he said, sympathetically.

"Thank you," said Sheila grateful.

"So what was she doing with the code besides disabling the security cameras?" said Jake, asking another question.

"I'm not sure," Sheila admitted. "I'm still trying to find out."

Well, I hope you do because we'd be really interested in what John Brown wanted here besides those embryos," Jake said. Sheila nodded her head, but had nothing more to say in that regard and she turned back to the terminal and made some keystrokes.

"Okay, I've shut down one of the Crays and set the other one up to power down in 26 hours," said Sheila, giving them some leeway. "If your report isn't done by then, I'm sorry."

"Thanks," said Jake as Henry also nodded his head. Sheila got up and headed for the exit.

"Is he a bad man?" she asked in reference to Cassie's enigmatic employer.

"I wish we knew," admitted Henry at a loss. Sheila sighed softly and then left the two alone in the nearly empty room. The scientists immediately sat down at one of the stations. Jake fired up one of the terminals and one of the Cray XMP supercomputers was seen powering up through the glass window in the wall. Jake then began running through the different DNA sequences stored on the computer before finding the T-Rex codes.

"You have the blood sample?" he asked of his friend. Henry looked at him confused as he patted himself down.

"I thought you had it," Henry told him. Jake shook his head vigorously.

"Jennifer gave it to you," he recalled.

"But then I gave it to you this morning before we left the airfield so I could collect my binder of CDs," Henry pointed out. The color drained from Jake's face as he looked at the Crays and suddenly entered deep into thought.

"Hey Jake, you make this too easy," said Henry shaking his head in shame as he produced the vial of Tyrannosaur blood. Jake groaned exasperated at having been fooled as Henry loaded the vial into the analyzer.

"I'll get you back for that," Jake promised as he brought up the list of genetic testing options.

"So we don't have much to work with if we have only one Cray for 26 hours," Henry admitted, a little disappointed by their bad timing. "I'm pretty sure you're right that the DNA comparison program is overlooking something important. To get around that, I'm thinking we should do a full DNA analysis against every version on file."

"I do too but we're going to be lucky if it finishes before that thing shuts off," Jake realized. "And we're not going to find another Cray for miles. The closest one InGen has is back in Kenya."

"Which is why we need to stop wasting time and hope we get a result that is useful," said Henry pointedly. Jake nodded his head solemnly and then typed in the necessary commands and the machine went to work. The two scientists silently got up and walked towards the door before pausing to look at a Hood DNA sequencer that was gathering some dust from disuse.

"We can recreate the past but we can't know what's just beyond that door," Jake mused sadly. Henry patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"We'll be fine, trust me, remember?" he asked pointedly of something Jake had said when they weren't sure what had happened to Nublar. Jake nodded his head with a mild grin on his face.

"You're right," he agreed as he straightened up. "Nothing can stop us now."

He walked straight for the door fearlessly until…

"BOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"I'll kill you, Katrice!"

"Aaaahhhh!"

Henry hung his head in shame as Katrice ran off with Jake in hot pursuit as a few moments later Colin Maken came to a rest nearby wheezing heavily. He looked at Henry who looked at him knowing what he was thinking and wordlessly pointed in the direction of the two departing individuals. Colin continued his pursuit of his wayward sister and hoped he got to her before his boss did.

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: "It took 3 Deinonychus Dinosaurs less than fifteen minutes to tear apart an entire village and slaughter thirty-five people," Harding remarked a little bitterly. "None of us will ever forget those screams, smell, or what we saw."

Samantha nodded as she looked at some black and white photos as well as some color photos from the video the Costa Rican government had found at the scene of the destruction of the carnage. The images were very grisly.

"What happened to the three Deinonychus?" asked Samantha curious.

"We captured them alive and they were brought back to Sorna," Harding recalled. "After that, I'm not entirely sure what went on but I think Jake and Henry let the Board know about invoking some emergency powers act and they killed and dissected the dinos to try and find out how they were still alive when the lysine contingency should've killed them. As we later found out, the village the Deinonychus attacked was surrounded by all kinds of bean fields-beans being rich in lysine-that the villagers were cultivating. We think that's what the creatures were mainly after and the villagers just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Samantha looked at him curiously. "I thought the lysine contingency wasn't put into the dinosaurs until after A-1."

Harding shifted uneasily at that as he remembered the old days. "It was more a 'don't talk about it' sort of thing," he clarified. "From what I recall, Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves had always wanted some form of failsafe measure beyond the dinosaurs' inability to breed in case they ever got loose. So they cooked up a weak form of the lysine contingency and added it to the genetic blueprints of all the cloned creatures. Hammond, Ludlow, and the Board knew about it and weren't happy about it but they couldn't afford to lose the three head scientists by forcing the issue. Then A-1 happened…"

Samantha nodded her head understandingly. "And that changed everything."

"You have no idea," Harding stated gravely. "For about a week or so after it happened there was uneasiness between us that knew what had happened and the Board. They weren't saying anything and we didn't like being kept in the dark. But then Jake and Henry somehow found out that what the Board wasn't telling us was that they intended to cover up the A-1 incident. And at the same time, the rest of the workers also mysteriously learned all the details about the dinosaurs making their way to Costa Rica," Harding revealed ominously. "Simply put, all hell then broke loose."


	35. The End of the Day

Operations Building, Isla Sorna: "You sure Jake and Henry didn't just tell the staff members what was going on to try and get leverage over the Board," Samantha asked conspiratorially. Harding shook his head.

"They said after it was all over that they didn't and I believe them," he said. "I mean after the workers found out about A-1 we had a complete panic on our hands. Who actually did tell them was something we still never found out."

Samantha returned to looking at the report and flipped to a new set of pages.

"But maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit," she confessed. "Tell me how things broke down between the Board and the two top scientists after they found out about the alleged cover up."

Harding had to think hard to remember the exact sequence of events as it was largely a blur of one bad moment after the next.

"Okay, I remember Jake and Henry calling a special meeting of the senior staff of Nublar and Indigo," Harding began tentatively as he wanted to make sure he was being correct. "We met in the Visitors Center, had lunch, made idle chitchat, and then Jake and Henry presented copies of numerous board reports over the past week and a half; all with evidence of the pending cover-up. InGen wasn't only planning to hide what had happened on Costa Rica from the world at large but also from their own staff."

Samantha was reading that part in the report as well as excerpted attachments of those board reports the two scientists had somehow obtained.

"It says here that the documents were anonymously mailed to Jake and Henry," Samantha noted. Harding nodded his head.

"But they were all genuine," he pointed out. "We figured the then current head of HR had sent them; but he always denied it. Regardless, he really had his hands full with the firestorm that came next."

Samantha continued reading her report.

"The senior staff made the decision to confront the Board with the information," she noted. "Ludlow was pretty much in charge at that time because Hammond had had to step away earlier to deal with 'familial' issues. Ludlow denied the reports and then demanded to know where Jake and Henry had gotten them from."

Harding nodded. "At that point Sam really didn't really want to further compound the issue, but Jake and Henry being who they were refused to back down. They threatened to shut down dinosaur production if Ludlow didn't admit to the truth and do something about preventing it from happening again in the future."

"Making demands would've really set Ludlow off," Samantha knew from experience. "But before he got a chance to give a response it looks like the island staffs found out about A-1 and were really fearful for their safety on the islands," she stated from her notes.

"At which point production wasn't really as big an issue anymore as nearly all work ground to a screeching halt until matters could be resolved," Gerry admitted.

"To which Ludlow then threatened to place Sites A and B under permanent lockdown under the provision of there being a hostile takeover," said Samantha a little surprised by that rationale but she shrugged it off and moved on. "Jake and Henry ordered Lori to immediately shut down egg production at that point. Things continued to escalate verbally between the two parties and any attempts at negotiation through the HR Director repeatedly failed. Ludlow refused to meet the demands of rogue employees and the staffs of Nublar and Sorna then refused to speak to anyone other than Hammond. Nedry then took things up a notch when he jammed nearly all the phone and modem lines leading from the islands to the outside world meaning the Board could no longer freely monitor what was happening on Nublar and Sorna."

"Probably the only time he actually worked extra tasks without complaining. If he actually agreed with our concerns or just wanted to take out some of his frustrations on the company is anyone's guess," Harding said a little miffed. "But at that point Hammond re-entered the picture after getting wind of what had been happening in his absence. He immediately fired the old HR director for letting things escalate out of hand and I think this was about the point where you entered the picture."

Samantha nodded her head as she yawned briefly and poured herself some water from her thermos.

"InGen had been trying to poach me away from my old job for a few months at that point," she told the veterinarian. "They then offered me a large lump sum of money if I would work just temporarily to settle an 'internal dispute' which some behind closed doors was more thought of as a 'civil war'. I did my best, but it wasn't easy. Especially since Hammond seemed to take the side of the employees and Ludlow the bottom line."

"I can imagine. Jake, Henry, and Muldoon then used the incident to force the Board into implementing a series of sweeping security changes to all the islands. Formal recognition and implementation of a more deadly form of the lysine contingency was immediately done. The emergency bunkers were built on all the islands and Muldoon stocked them with heavy weaponry. Plus concrete moats, motion sensor trackers, the fences being upped in wattage from 5000 to 10000 volts were all put forward. The facilities at Indigo were also created almost overnight as an additional safety measure and Daniela was transferred over from Ingen Waterfront: San Diego to oversee them. That was just the start, but those were the major changes.

In turn, Ludlow was allowed to cover up the incident as far as the Costa Ricans were concerned. The families of those killed were offered large sums of money seemingly out of the personal welfare of a rich entrepreneur who had heard about the village and felt sympathetic," Harding revealed. "Honestly your handling of the situation by working with both sides evenly won a lot of our respect. So we're glad you stuck around afterwards. But on the flip side, Jake and Henry never trusted the Board of Directors again," he fully admitted.

"_And that was when E.L.E. became a more contentious issue_," Samantha thought to herself. What Harding didn't know was that right before Hammond's return, Whitacre and Wu had played their final trump card by saying they would activate E.L.E. if Ludlow didn't back down. Ludlow had then begun seriously considering contacting the Costa Rican government and requesting they retake the islands by force. Without the CEO's return, things could've gotten very violent very quickly. And A-1 might've only been the beginning of future incursions.

"_I wonder why E.L.E. had already been thought up well before the A-1 incident…_," Samantha wondered to herself a little perplexed.

"So why the trip down memory lane?" asked Harding now that the reminiscing was over. Samantha shrugged.

"Because once more the company finds itself in a similar situation," she pointed out. "There's a lockdown going on, tension between the islands and the Board, and most importantly a threat of the dinosaurs getting loose. I needed to make sure I know what to expect as the days until the fences fail really winds down."

"If push comes to shove, Jake will shove back regardless of the consequences," Harding warned. Samantha nodded her head, expecting no less from the scientist.

"I also need to know one more thing. Do you think the dinosaurs could get from Sorna to the mainland?" she had to ask. Harding swallowed hard, nervously at that question.

"I've thought about that ever since and I don't know," the veterinarian told her. "By all accounts they shouldn't have been able to get from Nublar to the mainland, but they did."

"I'd like you to look into it to try and find out," Samantha requested before closing up her notebook. "And that's about all I have for you today. Was there anything you needed from me?"

Harding stared at her for a few moments as he silently debated an idea back and forth.

"What are Jake and Henry up to?" he asked finally. Samantha's expression didn't betray a hint of emotion as she looked up at him.

"You think they're up to something?" the Board member asked calmly. Harding nodded his head.

"Not too long ago they brought a series of dinosaur carcasses into the clinic and refused to answer my questions about where they had come from," Harding told her. "Dinosaurs don't usually die from gunshot wounds."

Samantha clasped her hands in front of her and rested them on the desk before leaning forward.

"If those two are up to something then I'm sure it concerns genetics and wouldn't be something we'd understand," Samantha figured truthfully. She wasn't going to lie that she was aware the two scientists were up to something, but until she had all the facts she wasn't going to freely admit to it either.

"If it concerns the dinosaurs once they're no longer in eggs then it is my concern as head veterinarian on this island," Harding said bluntly. "76 days isn't a lot of time to prepare for the worst."

"And how would you suggest we do that?" asked Samantha refusing to be baited. "If they won't tell us, we can't force them to admit the truth."

"Maybe not," Harding agreed with a nod of his head. "But that doesn't mean we can't find our own answers," He said frankly as he produced a vial of blood and placed it on the table. "I took that sample from one of the dinosaurs Jake and Henry brought it that day. If you get that sample analyzed then you'll have your answers."

Samantha looked at the blood sample with its tantalizing promises of answers trying not to show any signs of emotion as she slowly picked it up.

"You're taking a big risk giving me this," she warned Harding. "There're probably about a dozen company statues you're now breaking. Plus, I could let Jake and Henry know about this."

"You could but at this point I don't have any other choice if I want to figure out what's going on. The lockdown forced my hand," Harding said frankly. "So it's up to you now."

Samantha held the vial in her closed hand as she made her decision.

"I haven't decided what I'll do with this yet," was all she said as she put the vial away securely in her bag. Harding nodded his head but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't said she would report him. The workers were right to trust her because she was the only one on the Board who really cared for their wellbeing.

"Is there anything else you needed?" Samantha asked one more time. Harding shook his head.

"Just…if either of my daughters ever comes and talks to you, please tell them I am doing this for them and I promise to come back alive," Harding requested, uncomfortable about the whole thing. Samantha gave a small but heartfelt smile at that.

"I will," she promised. "But tomorrow's July 4th, you should call your family."

Harding shrugged noncommittally before giving his goodbye and leaving the room. Behind him, Samantha crossed her fingers together in front of her face and stared out the window and at the village deep in thought about what would happen in 76 days. And what would happen after…

San Diego International Airport: Passengers waiting for their planes turned their heads and looked out the windows as amongst the more modern Boeings, McDonnell-Douglass's, and Airbuses; a vintage DC-3 rolled past the terminals. It then moved past the terminals before coming to a halt inside a small InGen airplane hangar. The rear hatch of the plane opened and Jennifer popped out and went down the steps to the ground below.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying InGen air," she began to those disembarking. "InGen personnel will be placing your luggage in rows here inside the hangar. One you have picked your suitcases up, please walk over to the far door where the ropes are leading from and you will find a meeting room where you will be given a final debriefing and will then be put on a bus waiting to take you to the main terminal. On behalf of InGen and myself, we thank you for your assistance."

The programmers collected their things and left the hangar as the large hangar doors closed shut cutting off the view of the airport. From the back of the airplane, Tim finally emerged with Kevin and the two stood next to the female pilot.

"Do I need to go to the debriefing also?" Tim teased. Jennifer gave him a dim look before softly shoving him towards the exit door.

"Be here bright and early tomorrow. We're leaving at 7 a.m. and allow at least one hour to get through security," Jennifer cautioned. Tim gave a mild salute with his hand and then was gone as well before the female pilot looked over at the other plane in the hangar, a Learjet that had originally been housed on Sorna, and sighed.

"Can we please take that plane back and leave the DC-3 here?" she pleaded lightly. Kevin hung his head in shame.

"For the thousandth time, no," the male pilot replied. "Now c'mon let's go before I have to get a crowbar to pry you off the landing gear. Or stop you from stealing a 747."

Jennifer laughed at that as the two pilots exited the area.

InGen Headquarters: Peter Ludlow sat at his desk typing up his speech for the next day on Nublar when a knock was heard on his door. A bit startled that no one had warned him about an approaching visitor, he chided himself by remembering it was Saturday and aside from security roaming the building, no one else would be in the building without proper authorization. And anyone wanting to cause trouble wouldn't have knocked first.

"Enter," Ludlow said as he turned to the door. It opened and Ludlow was surprised to see John Hammond's butler enter the room.

"As my employer's previous attempts to leave a message for you have apparently failed, I am only here to say that he requests your presence tonight at his dwellings," the Butler stated simply before Ludlow could say anything first. He then placed an invitational card on the desk and then left.

The COO could only sit and be surprised by this as he stared at the invitational card wondering what he should do. And then he scowled briefly at yet another intrusion in the delicate affairs of InGen by his uncle before brushing the invitation into the trash.

San Diego International Airport: Cassie Matula sat at the sidewalk debating whether or not to hail a taxi or take the bus when a car rolled up in front of her. From the other end, the door opened and Jeff Thomas appeared.

"Hi Cassie, I thought I'd offer you a ride," he said. Cassie nodded her head.

"Thanks," she said distantly, which Jeff immediately noted, and he helped put her back in the trunk of the car and then the two drove off. From a nearby entrance, Ed James watched the two with interest before writing down the license plate number of the vehicle in case Dodgson needed it later. He then hailed a cab to return to Biosyn Headquarters.

In the car, Jeff glanced every so often at Cassie who was being completely quiet.

"Cass, are you okay?" asked the Team Leader concerned for her. Cassie sighed softly.

"If there's something wrong, I need to know," Jeff insisted. Cassie's expression turned sour at that.

"I've lost her," she said angrily. Jeff wasn't sure she was referring to before an earlier conversation in the lodge on Isla Nublar came back to him.

"Your sister?" he asked for clarification. Cassie nodded her head as her expression became saddened.

"She's a programmer working for InGen. She knew I was there and I promised her I wouldn't be looking for anything in their system that wasn't related to Dennis Nedry's actions," Cassie told him. "I lied," she said with a simple shrug of her shoulders implying that it was no big deal, when clearly it was.

"Nobody said the job was easy," Jeff reminded her, while also reminding himself of that following his encounters with Samantha Brown.

"I haven't forgotten. But there's no reason we should've been on that island in the first place," said Cassie at a loss for why they were. "InGen is no threat to PacPharm; they aren't even in the same line of work. And BioSyn couldn't have gotten anything from those busted embryos and neither can we. Something stinks about all of this. If we're not doing this for professional reasons then we're doing it for personal reasons. And the boss always said that if things get personal during an operation, it's time to walk away.

So why are we still here? Why are we still involved with InGen?"

"I don't know," Jeff confessed, also troubled like she was. "I do know the boss and Samantha Brown were married for a time. But if she was the reason we were there, then he would've ordered us to give _her_ the embryos, not keep them for ourselves. It's a mystery."

"Well I'm going to find out," Cassie promised angrily. "I didn't lie to my sister just to be left in the dark about why I did it."

Jeff sat in silence for a few moments as raindrops started to splatter against the windshield.

"I'll help you," he decided finally. To say Cassie was surprised was an understatement given her physical reaction to that statement.

"Thank you," she said, grateful.

"Don't thank me yet," Jeff disagreed as he forcefully shifted into a higher gear. "We both know what crossing the boss means if we're caught. We'll be lucky to turn up on a missing persons report."

He pushed down the accelerator and the car leapt forward into the storm.

Workers Village, Isla Sorna: Dusk was setting across the land as Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu wandered into the village. Jake was hunched over dejected as Henry patted him reassuringly on the back.

"I wouldn't be too discouraged, I'm sure you'll catch her eventually," Henry said, trying to keep a straight face about the whole situation. Jake grumbled something unintelligible as Henry broke out into a large smile and could barely stop himself from laughing. The two walked past the giant trailer/grill which was fired up for testing for tomorrow's barbeque.

"Hey Alejandro, how 'bout something good this year?" Jake called out to the resident chef. The chef turned to regard the scientist thoughtfully.

"Just for that I'll be sure your meal is _extra_ special," he said, his voice dripping with malice. Jake shook an angry fist at him but before he could launch into a war of words over food, an extremely exhausted Colin Maken walked up the steps to the platform next to the grill.

"No luck, huh?" asked Henry. Colin nodded his head as he took out a small wrapped package from his lab coat.

"No, but if you can't outrun her, you have to outthink her," Colin began as he began unwrapping the package. "And that means pulling out the big guns."

A large salmon was what had been in the package and he gingerly laid it out on the grill and it began smoking. The young scientist then took out his watch and began counting down on it.

"Five…four…three…two…one…,"

WHHHOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!

A pink and blonde blur suddenly materialized on the grill platform from out of nowhere and began jumping up and down.

"Fish! Fish! Fish!" shouted Katrice excitedly as began salivating.

"Hold on there for a moment," said Colin cutting into her mood as he had one hand on the temperature dial. "You don't go brush your teeth right now and this thing gets charbroiled."

Katrice's face turned downtrodden at that prospect of an overly well done piece of fish…especially salmon, her absolute favorite food.

"But don't worry because once you come back it'll be done just the way you like it," Colin promised with a smile. Katrice grinned back and happily skipped off towards the lodge. She paused briefly in front of Jake and Henry.

"I wouldn't be too discouraged, I'm sure you'll catch me eventually," she said intentionally repeating what Henry had said earlier. "But if you touch that fish I'll kill you," she swore. And then she was back skipping happily towards the lodge and out of sight. The two scientists watched her go before turning their attention to Colin who was now sitting on the edge of the platform.

"You come up with anything regarding the special project?" the younger scientist asked, curious.

"We're running a DNA map between the records on file and the blood of the original Rex," Henry answered. "Where are you and your team?"

"Katrice and I dissected some of the test subjects and now we're working on doing some genetic tests," Colin began. "Abby and Derrick are reviewing some of the hard copies of the lysine contingency and cross comparing them with hypothetical models for a lysine producing gene to see if there's any correlations."

The two scientists nodded.

"It's just too bad about the Crays, though," Colin sighed. "We could've used them more now than we have recently."

Jake and Henry laughed at that.

"When we started out, Crays were a luxury we couldn't afford…in fact they didn't even exist," Henry informed him. "We had to make due with slower processors, less computer memory, an intranet connection that only seemed to work when the weather was right, and spit and bailing wire to get things done. If it weren't for floppy disks, I don't know how the DRP project would've succeeded."

"Yikes," said Colin shuddering at such dark ages.

"So we'll manage just fine. The work will be long and hard and often times frustrating, but the results will be much more worth it," Jake promised. "If the dinosaurs can thrive 65 million years into the future, we can survive living ten years in the past for a couple months."

The two scientists then continued on towards the Operations Building for some dinner. Colin watched them go while thinking of the future before he was nearly run over by his sister whose teeth were apparently finally brushed…all the while never realizing she had lied to him about not brushing her teeth earlier that morning. She just wanted his company for the day rather than him being stuck in a lab always working.

San Diego, California: Peter Ludlow steeled himself for what he knew was coming next as he entered into John Hammond's loft and was directed once more towards the dining area where several weeks ago he had exchanged heated words with his Uncle. Words would no doubt fly tonight and the COO wasn't looking forward to it.

Nevertheless he was escorted to the dining hall of his uncle and entered to find the older man alone at the end of the table sipping some soup with his spoon.

"Ah, Peter, please sit down," Hammond requested after putting down the spoon. "How have you been?"

"It's been a very stressful time for me lately, but I've been managing to cope as best I can," Ludlow acknowledged with a tip of his head. "You are looking much healthier than when I last saw you."

"Thank you," said Hammond appreciative of the comment…or at least giving that impression that he was.

And then his expression became deadly serious.

"What the hell have you been doing to my company?"


	36. Plans for the Future

Ludlow sighed to himself. "If you were more involved with this company and not secluding yourself here, you would know," he said unashamedly at his actions in running InGen. Hammond in response gave him an angry glare.

"What I do or don't do is none of your business," he said curtly. "Why was E.L.E. activated?"

"The maintenance staff was cycling power to the fences and some velociraptors escaped," Ludlow answered. "They invaded the field clinic and something had to be done."

"Who proposed that solution was it Jake or Henry?" the CEO asked. Ludlow shook his head.

"Samantha Brown," he told him. That clearly wasn't the answer Hammond had been expecting and he pushed back into his chair for a moment in surprise.

"So she approves of E.L.E.?" he asked, a little concerned. Ludlow nodded his head.

"Given her primary interest lie in the welfare of the workers, I'd say yes," he reasoned. "Is that a problem?"

"It is if the contingency plan is ever fully activated," Hammond reminded him. "Under no circumstances can you allow Jake and Henry to use E.L.E. on Sorna. If we lose Sorna then we lose everything."

Ludlow snorted at that. "Well it's nice to know we both finally agree on something," he stated ruefully. "I have no intention of ever letting them selfishly use their pet project. That is another reason for the lockdown. As long as they're trapped on that island they won't be able to locate and find Dr. Graves to activate the Third Level Protocols."

"Do you even know where Dr. Graves is?" asked Hammond pointedly. Ludlow didn't respond to that question.

Hammond shook his head in shame. "If they want to, they'll find a way to get him onto Site B. Life always finds a way. I discovered that the hard way with Jurassic Park."

Ludlow dipped his head in deference to the statement but had no comments on it.

"Speaking of, tomorrow is the final day for Jurassic Park," Ludlow informed his uncle. "I am prepared to give a speech and you are more than welcome to attend," the COO offered but desperately hoped the offer would be turned down.

"I haven't decided yet," said Hammond truthfully and noncommittally so as to bother his nephew. "But was it necessary to destroy Jurassic Park?"

"Yes," said Ludlow firmly as he folded his hands on the table. "Daniel Ross, Ed Regis, the rest of the board, and myself reviewed all possible options for retaking the island and bringing Jurassic Park back to full operational status. But there was no way to avoid the fact that what happened, happened. The Jurassic Park Incident can never be fully concealed; at some point word is going to get out. And when it does, the average citizen will not want to go to an island where the attractions previously ran wild. That king of negative P.R. would doom us."

Hammond looked at him skeptically. "And I suppose your feelings on there even being a Jurassic Park on Nublar in the first place has nothing to do with it?"

Ludlow shook his head. "I've never hidden the fact that I thought Site A was a bad idea. But after you decided to go forward with it and got the investors and the Board to buy into it, I dutifully supported it. We just spent 126 million dollars to quickly demolish, deconstruct, and dispose of Isla Nublar's organic and inorganic facilities. And that doesn't even include writing off whatever was damaged or destroyed. I don't like spending money like that on anything where it won't eventually result in a profit for us. This won't save us an immediate profit, but it will help us in the long run."

"And you think Jurassic Park: San Diego is going to provide those future profits?" asked Hammond not entirely convinced.

"Yes. Plus it has the advantages of keeping things local where the Board can closely watch over things rather than have them occur on some island several hours away where news is…delayed," Ludlow said, his final comment a note on how it had take more than 12 hours to realize something had gone wrong on Jurassic Park.

"I think keeping things local is a mistake," Hammond said in turn. "The closer we keep things the easier it will be for our competitors to steal our secrets. Even Nublar being as far away as it was still wasn't safe from Biosyn."

"You're probably right," the COO conceded. "But we need a quick source of revenue and we need one now. This company cannot continue to survive on the money already invested in it."

"Especially now that the wrongful death lawsuits have begun to be filed," Hammond said knowingly. Ludlow's expression darkened at hearing about yet another thing his Uncle had found out about without being around the office.

"Well, I can't really comment as litigation is ongoing," said the COO trying to deflect the question.

"Pay the amounts requested in full," Hammond immediately requested. Ludlow had to do a double-take upon hearing that one.

"What?" he asked softly, shocked.

"That's my official decision as CEO," his Uncle stated firmly with a nod of his head.

"We aren't to blame!" Ludlow shouted upset. "This was Nedry's doing; his estate should pay all reparations!"

"We ARE the ones responsible!" Hammond shot back. "I'm not going to blame others again for the mistakes I've made. I should've recognized Nedry's growing discontent would cause problems, but I was too wrapped in my own ego to notice. I was blind about that and many other things, but never again. I refuse to make the same mistakes again."

Ludlow groaned aloud at his Uncle's idealism and naïveté. "If we pay them off right away the press will get wind of it and wonder what's going on and investigate. We'll end up in trade journals, magazines, newspapers, tabloids, everything. We don't need that attention right now. It will keep our attention away from what needs to be done and also generate negative publicity prior to the opening of Jurassic Park: San Diego. The costs involved to pay those reporters off to keep them quiet, make it seem like there was never anything on Nublar-let along dinosaurs-and whatever other costs may be involved to keep things quiet is a financial burden we don't need right now. Silence is expensive and right now we're having enough problems keeping track of Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm and making sure they don't violate their NDAs!"

"Well perhaps we're better off making things public," the CEO declared. "Make a clean admission, gain sympathy, and build interest in our company."

Ludlow again shook his head, not liking that idea. "Sorry, but that's not even something you can do," he said grateful of that fact. "We're still under a media blackout that was supposed to last until Jurassic Park's opening. The Board just approved that be shifted until the opening of Jurassic Park: San Diego. You violate that and its grounds for dismissal."

Hammond harrumphed at being stonewalled by his nephew who had apparently accumulated quit a bit of power during his absence since Jurassic Park's fall.

"I know you're probably thinking very highly of yourself right now," Hammond said of his nephew's undoubted smugness about the whole thing. "But you're sadly mistaken. The smallest details are the ones that can undermine you and your plan. You'd better be ready for when they do."

Ludlow looked at Hammond dimly. "If you don't like the way I'm running things then step in and take over. Otherwise stay out of my way," He said undiplomatically before getting up.

"I haven't dismissed you," Hammond said angrily. Ludlow made an effort of looking at his watch.

"I'm afraid I must go and catch some sleep while I still can. I have a 7 a.m. flight tomorrow that I can't afford to miss," the COO told him. "Goodbye uncle, it's always a pleasure to be in your company," he finished, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't think that just because you're leaving means this conversation is over," Hammond warned his nephew. "I will make sure my company survives whatever you're planning for it. And when you fail, I'll still be here."

"Then I won't fail," Ludlow swore. With that he was gone, leaving the CEO alone in silence. The conversation had gone as he'd expected, but at least now he knew what his nephew was really up to.

Hammond sighed briefly and then got up and left the room and went over to his combined living area and library. Heading to his bookshelves, he looked at a cabinet that was full of binders containing information on InGen from over the years. Almost all of the information was available electronically, but the older man liked to have physical copies as sometimes it made it easier to concentrate as opposed to viewing lines on the screens.

The binders were arranged by topic in alphabetical order. Next to the binder on the DX Virus was a binder labeled: E.L.E. Hammond pulled it from the shelf, walked over to his desk, set the binder down, and then cracked it open. The first page clearly indicated the information was classified and warned any unauthorized users about the consequences of reading the information contained within. The CEO flipped past that page and then the cover page, table of contents, and the preface summarizing what E.L.E. was, of which more detailed information was listed in the rest of the binder.

Hammond then stopped as he reached the prologue. He stared at the section full of information and then clasped his hands together and looked at the computer screen in front of him. While it was true most information was available electronically, that didn't mean all information. Certain pieces of information needed to be kept away from prying eyes for a variety of reasons and so it wasn't made publicly available to InGen's staff. E.L.E. was available electronically, however it can only be accessed by authorized personnel and not a line level worker.

But even the information online didn't contain the prologue that his copy did…in fact the electronic copy's table of contents didn't even refer to a prologue having existed in the first place. It was a piece of phantom information known only to a select few and it was intended to stay that way. Hammond returned his attention to the text and read what it had to say.

The A-0 Incident

The Extinction Level Event protocols-further referred to as E.L.E.-were developed in 1987 by Doctors Gustavius Graves, Jake Whitacre, and Henry Wu in response to an event that occurred at InGen's Kenya Facilities on 3/3/86…


	37. Returning Home

July 4, 1993, Morning, San Diego International Airport: The sun was already rising above the horizon and the airport glistened from the raindrops that had yet to evaporate. In the InGen hangar, the hangar doors were wide open and the DC-3 was prepped and pointed outwards ready to meet the challenges ahead.

Near the rear hatch, Jennifer watched the InGen workers load piece after piece of heavily loaded suitcases into the cargo compartment.

"You know, Tim, this is an airplane not a hotel," Jennifer commented looking at the programmer's remaining suitcases of which there were still quite a few. The programmer laughed at her comment.

"And how many suitcases did you bring?" he requested. "I noticed they were conveniently loaded before I got here so I couldn't see."

"That's none of your damn business," Jennifer lightly warned. "A woman should not be questioned about many things and the amount of stuff she brings with her on a trip is one of them."

"I'll remember that," Tim promised still with a mild grin on his face.

"How did you pay for all this stuff?" asked the female pilot curious. Tim was about to respond to that when two new arrivals entered into the hangar area with their luggage, Peter Ludlow and Stephanie Sandelder.

"Sir," Tim acknowledged as Jennifer turned all business at the new arrivals. Kevin for his part had seen the arrivals from the cockpit and also exited the craft to greet them.

"Kevin, Jennifer, Tim," the COO acknowledged using their first names to try and keep them at ease…plus cover up the fact that if he'd ever learned their last names, he'd long since forgotten them. "What sort of flying weather can we expect on our trip over?"

"Should be smooth sailing," Kevin told him. "Normal winds in the upper and lower atmosphere and it should be sunny with scattered clouds once we reach Nublar."

"Excellent," said Ludlow pleased as he nodded his head before turning to his associate. "This is Stephanie Sandelder, she's an administrative assistant that is transferring to Sorna."

That surprised the trio of InGen workers. "So what brings you our way?" asked Tim asking the obvious question on all their minds.

"With the Lockdown, Sam Stone will have a lot on his plate trying to keep everything running smoothly. I'm just here to assist him and the senior staff on Site B in any way possible," Stephanie said. Which was the truth…even if it was only half of it.

But the mention of the Lockdown was what got their attention and their expressions turned downtrodden at that, a fact not lost on Ludlow.

"Look, I know Samantha explained the Lockdown to you and why it has to be put in place," he began. "But more importantly, it allows you to have a sense of normalcy on Sorna. Nobody will be going anywhere and you will all need each other to weather what is to come as we try to get Jurassic Park: San Diego operational."

The two pilots nodded their heads, but whether they disagreed with the COO or not, both knew to keep their mouths shut. Ludlow consulted his watch and saw it was nearing 7 a.m.

"Shall we go?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful as he hefted his only carry-on, his briefcase. The two pilots nodded and Stephanie's luggage was loaded into the plane. Kevin got into the plane first and headed up front to the cockpit. Sandelder got on next followed by Tim and then Peter Ludlow. The COO was surprised to see two teenagers onboard already who were sitting in their seats fast asleep.

"Kelly Curtis and R.B. Benton from the analysis team," Stephanie softly supplied as she secured her carryon and then sat down. Ludlow nodded his head at hearing the information and then also took a seat in the row ahead of her and slipped his briefcase under the seat in front of him. At the very back, Jennifer secured the cabin door and then walked up the aisle before standing in front of everybody.

"Alright, let's make this quick," she began. "There's no food or entertainment on this flight. If we have to make a landing in the water there's an inflatable lifejacket under your seat. We crash on Sorna and we're all screwed. Any questions see the manual in the seat pocket in front of you. Have a good flight and welcome to InGen Air."

"I want a bag of peanuts!" Tim shouted after her from the back.

"Look on your seat because you already are a nut!" Jennifer shot back as Tim began laughing as the cockpit door slammed shut.

With that she headed to the front. Stephanie eyed the departing female pilot concerned about her attitude before briefly unbuckling her belt and tapping Ludlow on the shoulder.

"Should I…?" she began hesitantly, unsure of whether or not to begin her notes on behavior of the island staff.

"No," said Ludlow dismissively as he briefly snorted. "That's normal behavior for her. And besides, I'm more concerned about the actions of the senior staff and just the general attitudes of the rest of the staff."

Stephanie nodded and then settled back into her seat and buckled her seatbelt and sat back, wondering what she'd gotten herself into and what to expect when she got to Sorna.

Anne B., Pacific Ocean: Sam Stone, his face looking complete green, was squatting near the railing of the ship as it plowed through the ocean.

"Doctor, I think we're losing him!" said Lori Ruso imitating a flighty nurse as she watched the Head of Operations from the deck of the ship. Sam groaned at his subordinate's behavior before he felt something in his throat and he covered up his mouth before getting up and dry heaving over the side of the ship before sitting back down. Behind him, Bobbie Carter was looking through her black bag of medications and seeing what she had on her.

"I only raided the medicine cabinet for standard stuff like headaches, heartburn, and stuff like that. The only things we regularly get by boat are the supply drops so I wasn't expecting seasickness from a member of the staff," she complained. "If anything, I was hoping Jake would get sick and then I wouldn't have to feel bad about not treating him."

"Hey!" said the voice of the male scientist as he too was hunched over near the ship rails, but he wasn't sick he was exhausted from lack of sleep. "It's too early in the morning for your garbage."

He was barely hanging onto consciousness and was struggling to stay awake.

"You fall asleep and I'll push you into the ocean. That'll wake you up real quick," Bobbie warned lightly. Jake grumbled something unintelligible before turning his sleepy attention to Lori.

"Hey nurse, how about some TLC?" he teased. Lori looked at him dimly before turning to Bobbie.

"I think the new patient is too far gone. My recommended treatment is euthanasia!" she said excitedly in her nurse voice.

"While I do agree with your treatment suggestion, I'm afraid it's not worth all the paperwork," Bobbie admitted, feigning disappointment. Lori fake pouted as Jake groaned even more heavily than before.

"Hey Doc, you got any instant coffee in that bag of yours?" Henry teased as he was leaning on the railing next to Jake looking out at the ocean.

"You want coffee go find a diner or drink that sludge in the ship's break room. The good stuff is for medical professionals only," Bobbie lightly snapped at him before sighing. "I can't believe I'm going to be stuck on an island with a bunch of children for the next two and a half months. I think I'll go crazy!"

The boat suddenly lurched heavily in the surf as Sam made a noise and then immediately covered his mouth before quickly standing up and retching over the side of the ship.

"Clean up on Aisle 6!" Jake said as he moved to get out of the way.

"The patient!" shouted Lori in a very flighty voice. Bobbie groaned as she continued rummaging through her bag when she came across a bottle of aspirin that she drilled Jake with before finding some medication to help Sam.

"I knew my instincts wouldn't fail me. Help me get him below deck so we can find him some water," Doctor Carter ordered as Jake and Henry helped lead their boss across the deck with Bobbie and Lori following close behind. Up above in the tower, Samantha Brown watched them before cracking a brief smile at their antics and then entering the radio room. The table was manned by the radio operator who nodded their head at the new arrival and shifted to the side as Samantha took the seat.

"I don't suppose I could have some brief privacy in here?" she wondered. The radio operator looked reluctant at that.

"I am supposed to be on-duty at all times during my shift, but I guess I could refill my water," the operator relented, knowing that she was top brass of the company currently contracting out the services of the Anne B.

"Thank you," said Samantha appreciatively as the radio operator left the room. Samantha instantly grabbed the radio and pulled out her radio log book and twisted it to the appropriate channel.

"CQ, CQ, this is InGen Transportation Leader calling InGen Transportation Base. I repeat this is InGen Transportation Leader calling InGen Transportation Base," Samantha spoke into it.

"Go ahead Transportation Leader," said Daniela St. Ives on the other end with a hint of amusement in her tone at Samantha's use of formality over the radio.

"How're things going over there?" asked Samantha curious. There was a small pause at hearing that.

"We've got the Venture all loaded and ready to sail. In fact, we were just about to shut down the power to the entire island," Daniela admitted, the concern evident on her voice. Samantha nodded her head as that answered her unspoken question about why Daniela had immediately answered her radio call.

"I know things look bad now, but they will get better, I promise," said the Board Member, hoping her words wouldn't sound hollow.

"Yeah," said Daniela softly on the other end wanting to believe it but having her gut tell her otherwise. Samantha sighed briefly.

"When we both get to Nublar, there'll be a little bit of time before Ludlow shows up to give his speech. I'll brief you on the Venture about the…contingency plan," Samantha said reluctantly, not wanting to bring up the subject in view of everything else going on, but having no choice.

"Right," said Daniela, hoping that subject could've been avoided a little while longer but knowing that was impossible. "Look, I don't want to cut this short, but our ride is ready to leave for our rendezvous."

"Roger that," said Samantha willing to put the conversation on hold for now until they met in-person. "Have a safe trip."

"Thanks," said Daniela. "This is the final transmission of InGen's Site C Facility located on Isla Indigo. Over and out."

Samantha silently switched the radio channel back to the standard frequency before clasping her hands in front of her face and staring at the radio unit. A soft knock was heard at the door immediately diverting her attention as the radio operator opened the door and peeked in his head. Samantha gave him a silent acknowledgment and left the room. She walked down the hallway and passed the group who had been outside and were now in the mess hall sans Bobbie and Sam who were apparently in the medical bay.

Continuing on, she entered into a small cabin that had been designated hers and sat down at the small table that was slightly rocking because from the waves outside. She then reached into her satchel and retrieved her E.L.E. binder and began flipping through it. Finally reaching the section on the timeline of rolling out the contingency plan, the Board Member then retrieved a second binder regarding InGen's plans for opening the San Diego facility and began cross-comparing the two.

San Diego, California: Sarah Harding was sitting at the dining room table with her mother as Jess Harding was in front of the television playing her Sega Genesis.

"So she still doesn't remember anything about what happened?" asked her mother concerned. Sarah shook her head.

"She said something about a place called Jurassic Park, screamed real loud, and passed out," Sarah told her as she took a sip of her glass of water. "I was taking her to the hospital when she came out of it and after telling her what happened, she just gave me a clueless look about it all. She didn't remember anything about what had happened for the whole time we were talking to my friend at Berkeley or after until she woke up in my jeep."

"So, then what did you do?" asked Mrs. Harding. Sarah shrugged helplessly.

"I'm not a psychiatrist but I didn't see anything wrong with her so we came here like I originally planned," the animal behaviorist confessed. "Was that wrong?"

Mrs. Harding shrugged helplessly. "When she came back from wherever she was, I took her to every psychiatrist in the phonebook. They didn't have anything useful to say about her memories coming back; only that they would in time."

"Which is a luxury I don't have," Sarah stated ruefully before deciding to change topics to something that might give her more insight into her search for information. "I don't suppose 'Jurassic Park' means anything to you?"

"Actually it does," her mother revealed to Sarah's surprise. The San Diego University Researcher was very surprised at that.

"So what is it?" Sarah had to ask, needing to know the answer to this perpetual mystery of where her father was.

"Well I don't think it's what Jessica was referring to, but Jurassic Park is the name of that amphitheater InGen built out near the Bay," her mother told her. "Your father took my there once for a company outing."

That registered with Sarah as she took out her notebook and wrote it down. "I forgot about that place," she remarked, feeling the whole building was one of the most bizarre things she'd ever seen.

"Well apparently, they're going to start up construction on it again," her mother said as she got up and went over to her stack of mail and pulled out the mailer she'd gotten from InGen and handed it to her daughter. She read the article which didn't say much and then put it in her lucky pack before getting up.

"I'll be out for a little while," she told her mother and headed for the door.

"Can I come?" Jess called after her. The older sister shook her head.

"I'll just be downtown for a little bit and then I'll be back for dinner," she told her younger sister. "Too bad dad's not here for one of his Fourth of July barbecues."

"Yeah, who needs fireworks when the grill always goes up in flames," Jess commented evilly. And with that Sarah was gone, headed for a certain amphitheater and for what she hoped were more answers to her questions.

Site C, Isla Indigo: Daniela St. Ives found herself staring at the computer in front of her as it sat there patiently awaiting a command she didn't want to input.

"Boss?" said a voice drawing her attention as she looked to the edge of the room and saw her secretary waiting there. "It's time to go."

Daniela let a long breath and nodded her head as the secretary left the room. The Head of Indigo looked at the computer once more and typed in the command with disgust. She then left the room as the computers shut down along with the lights and the power. She then followed the natural light which led her to the outside doors of the island's Visitors Center and she found herself standing in front of the island's workers who looked at her expectantly for saying what the future held.

Nodding her head briefly, acknowledging their apprehension, she said the only thing that came to her mind.

"When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippine Islands at the beginning of World War II, he could only tell the people who lived there, 'I will return'. And he did," she informed her group. "Well, _I_ won't be returning to this island," she told them solemnly. The workers reacted to her statement with a mixture of shock and fear.

"_We_ will be returning to this island," Daniela swore.

Cheers erupted from the crowd.

Jurassic Park Amphitheater, San Diego: Sarah Harding was standing on the sidewalk looking at the gaudy building in the distance trying to figure out what its purpose was. Ordinarily, she could've gone in with the regular influx of tourists, but right now the entire location was sealed off with temporary chain link fences. The signage placed on the fences indicated construction was set to begin and that was easily apparent as tower cranes were being constructed, scaffolding was erected around the amphitheater, and construction equipment could be seen above the top of the fence. Taking out her binoculars, she focused in on the large gate at one end of the structure and saw the lettering at the top with the words "Jurassic Park".

"_But what does it mean?_" the animal behaviorist wondered desperately. All the times her father had offered to take her to the amphitheatre and now she couldn't get in to try and unravel the mysteries of InGen.

"It's an interesting building if you ever have the chance to go inside," said a voice next to her, startling the scientist out of her reverie. Turning to the source of the voice, she sighed in frustration at who she saw. In the jungle and in civilization she could pick up the movement of any individual and know where they were and what direction they were going and yet her mysterious informant managed to be so incredibly elusive it drove her crazy.

"I wouldn't know," Sarah said icily. Unperturbed, the man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a weathered tourist map of the building.

"Maybe this will help," he offered. Sarah eagerly took it although giving an appearance to the contrary and casually leafed through it while methodically absorbing all the information within.

"Tell me, how was the Dominican Republic?" asked the man, curious. Sarah scowled briefly at the man's ease of tracking her whereabouts.

"Warm," Sarah said and nothing else.

The man laughed.

Later, Isla Nublar: The SS Venture and Anne B. both pulled into port and their passengers began to disembark.

"Did they seriously demolish this entire island in only three days?" asked Jake incredulously.

"The crews have demolished the larger buildings already for example the Visitors Center, the lodge, the Raptor Pen, et cetera. Right now the teams should be focused on taking apart the fences, moats, and motion trackers out in the park," Nicolette Stefrassa supplied. "So the majority of the work is already done but they will need another week or so to properly clean the island of all traces of InGen ever being here."

"Unbelievable," said Jake shaking his head. That four years of work could be undone in the span of a couple of weeks was still something not easy to accept.

"Hello everyone," said Samantha with a megaphone as she addressed the InGen personnel. "There should be a food truck arriving soon if you're hungry. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want for the next forty-five minutes or so but then it'll be back on the SS Venture which will take you to your new home on Isla Sorna. So I wouldn't go very far. We only _think_ we've gotten rid of all the natives on this island," she teased. That got some of the workers attentions who decided against heading any further into the interior of the island.

"I don't suppose I could go with them when they leave?" asked Jake hopeful. Samantha shook her head.

"And if you keep this up, I'll have the plane leave you here," she promised and then walked off to go speak with Ed Regis who had just shown up in a jeep. As soon as she was gone, Daniela St. Ives walked up the group of senior staff of Sorna.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's Danno!" said Lori Ruso giving her a big hug. "How have you been, girl, long time no see!"

"Good to see you too, LoRu," said Daniela with a smile before nodding her head at Jake and Henry. "Those two not drive you crazy yet?"

"Ha, no," said Lori shaking her head. "The inspection tour I'm leading on the other hand…"

Richard Levine, Martin Gutierrez, and Jack Thorne disembarked from the boat and looked around the island. Levine immediately spotted Samantha and took a couple of steps towards her when Thorne put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Levine looked a little steamed at being stopped, but he then nodded his head and subsequently marched off towards the interior of the island. Samantha and Regis watched him go but did nothing to stop him. After a couple more minutes of talking, Samantha then approached the group.

"Okay, here's today's agenda," the Board Member began. "In a few moments a pair of vehicles will be along to take you to the interior of the island. You'll then wait at the deconstruction hub until they crews have finished setting up the chairs and podium near the front gate. Then Ludlow will give his keynote speech and then you'll fly back to Sorna and he and I will be leaving on the Anne B. back to San Diego."

"You're leaving us already?" asked Bobbie, concerned.

"I have to," said Samantha frankly. "I'm no good to you here because the boardroom is where the decisions about your future are being made. I'll come back as often as I can but believe me when I say that my being here won't stop decisions from being made that will still affect you regardless of the Lockdown. I can only wonder what Ludlow and Ross have been up over the past couple of weeks that I've been bouncing between Sorna and Nublar."

Even though they knew it was the truth, it didn't sit well with the senior staff. They each felt that having Samantha with them meant they'd at least be kept aware of the decisions the Board was making. Without her, they knew they'd mainly be left in the dark and that scared them, especially with their lives on the line if the fences failed.

"Look, above all else do not give them a reason to come down on you," Samantha insisted. "It's bad enough you're under lockdown but it could get worse, you never know. Just keep doing your jobs, don't do anything stupid, and everything will work out. I promise."

She intentionally shared a glance with Jake and Henry who lightly tipped their heads at her, but otherwise kept quiet. The two vehicles intended to transport them rolled up behind her and the workers filed past her.

"Hey, Daniela, if you want we can talk about the merger while we have time to kill," Lori offered.

"Actually, I'll need to speak with her here about a few things while you head on," said Samantha abruptly cutting in. That surprised the Head of Production.

"Is it about the merger because I can…," Lori began when Samantha held up her hand while shaking her head.

"Its administrative stuff that I don't want to bore you with," she said lightly while leading Daniela away. "We'll see you at the reception."

Lori watched them go, still perplexed-especially because Daniela looked like she was being sent to the gallows-before turning around and joining the others in the vehicles as they then rolled off into the island.

Biosyn HQ, San Diego, California: Lewis Dodgson sat at his desk listening to the radio when his door opened and Ed James and Howard King timidly walked in.

"Gentlemen, sorry I was unable to meet up with you in Costa Rica or at the airport, but of course I can't afford to tip my hand too much on something I'm not supposed to be involved in," Dodgson began. It wasn't really an apology, just a way of verbally denying all responsibility for what had happened to avoid any accountability later.

"Yes sir," both subordinates automatically acknowledged.

"**So**," began their boss darkly. "**How did it go?**"

King and James looked at each hesitantly before turning to their boss and broad smiles broke across their faces.

"Everything went as planned, sir," began James.

"John Brown successfully made off with the embryo canister," King finished. Dodgson looked at them for a moment before a malicious grin spread across his face.

"Excellent," he began, pleased. "John Brown has just handed himself the keys to his own destruction…"


	38. Mesozoic

A/N: As a personal request, please try and refrain from using colorful language if you're leaving a review. While you will encounter swear words within this story, I'd prefer if someone was just reading the reviews that they didn't encounter such language.

Isla Nublar: The Senior Staff of Isla Sorna were at the headquarters of the deconstruction effort that was full of hustle and bustle with crews and heavy equipment. But none of the action could divert their attention from what lay in front of them…the demolished remains of the Jurassic Park Visitors Center.

"I almost want to cry," Jake admitted as he looked at the rubble that was being scooped up by an excavator and deposited into a dump truck.

"You and me both buddy," Henry agreed, looking at a place he had actually worked at for a time.

"I think I _will_ cry," Lori confessed, saddened by the destruction as much as any of them. Sam stepped in front of the group to divert their attention from what was behind him.

"So out of all of us besides Gerry and Henry, who spent the most time here?" he asked, curious. "I was barely around after the groundbreaking ceremony."

The others had to think about their time spent on the island when it was still operational.

"Rarely for me," said Bobbie. "If someone got hurt badly enough here it was quicker to take them to Costa Rica than Sorna."

"I was here off and on for a couple months not too long ago when Hammond decided to make that genetics lab in the Visitors Center to fool everyone into thinking the dinosaurs were made there," Lori chimed in. "Nicolette was here with me for most of that time helping out."

The Head of Strategic Planning on Sorna gave a brief nod of her head in acknowledgment but otherwise added nothing else to the conversation. She felt dwelling on the past was a waste of time and usually served to lower morale. Although inwardly she cursed herself for doing just that as she was currently researching the unforeseen consequences of something she had done several years ago.

"I came whenever I got bored on Sorna and stayed until Hammond threw me out," Jake reminisced fondly. Whether he was telling the complete truth or not, nobody really knew or cared.

"I never actually came here at all after the groundbreaking. I always meant to, but I never did. And now it's gone," Sam confessed finally. "But I will do everything in my power to see that this doesn't happen to us," he promised the team. "And the main thing is to do exactly what Samantha said: we can't afford to screw up or mess around. I know I've let a lot of things slide in the past and I really don't want to have to start cracking the whip on you guys. But mark my words. I will do whatever it takes to make sure that Site B survives the next two and a half months."

Nublar Docks: Equipment salvaged from the island was being loaded into the holds of the Anne B. and S.S. Venture along with plenty of other debris. Walking past the cranes at work, Daniela St. Ives softly shuddered at the sight while feeling extremely grateful that it wasn't her island that had been taken apart piece by piece. But she couldn't afford to dwell on such thoughts as she followed Samantha Brown up the steps towards the deck of the Venture.

"I remember when this ship was still on the drawing board," Daniela admitted looking at the large deck of the ship. "She's definitely something to see now that's she's finally been built."

"Yes, we're glad to have her. Especially with everything else going on," Samantha agreed as they entered into her cabin and the Board Member shut the door behind them. "Please be seated."

Daniela reluctantly took her seat before clasping her hands in front of her on the table in front of her.

"I really don't want to be here," the former Head of Indigo flat out admitted. Samantha nodded her head but otherwise showed little sympathy.

"We all have to do things we're not happy about but that's because we have no choice," she said. "Jurassic Park is gone and it's too expensive to run Indigo right now. So being on Sorna and being the second in command if not co-command means you have to be fully briefed on the Extinction Level Event protocols. That is company rules."

Daniela sighed and nodded her head knowing she had no alternatives.

"So tell me; what do you know about the K-T Extinction Event?" asked Samantha moving on. Daniela tried to avoid showing any indication she'd heard that term before from Jake and Henry.

"It was the event that killed off the dinosaurs," she answered truthfully.

"That's right. It's a big matter of debate in the scientific community about just what it was that did them in," Samantha stated. "A meteor, a comet, the ice age, a plague, something else; nobody really knows. It's really just…speculation."

Daniela wasn't entirely sure where Samantha was going with all of this but she knew better than to say so.

"In the early days of the Dinosaur Revivification Process, the plan was to just clone dinosaurs from the Jurassic era. Marketing said because it was going to be called Jurassic Park that was what it should contain," Samantha continued as if on a non-sequitur. "Well obviously the DNA fragments we were collecting from amber deposits and ground up dinosaur fossils came from all over the spectrum that dinosaurs were alive. So if we made a park with only Jurassic dinosaurs in it then from what we had, there really wouldn't be much to show for the tourists."

"I guess that makes sense," said Daniela still at a loss for what Samantha was going on about.

"So InGen started cloning dinosaurs from different eras," the Board Member continued. "And they had phenomenal success with it by cloning dinosaurs up and down the Mesozoic Era. Everything was going smoothly…and then they ran into some problems."

If nothing else it was beginning to become an interesting story about events Daniela hadn't been involved with during her time with the company.

"For some reason out of certain batches of dinosaur eggs, some were dying within 24-hours after hatching," the Board Member told her. "There wasn't really any explanation for it, but it kept happening with random occurrences. Obviously, attention turned towards the cloning process. Safety, standardization, and cleanliness routines were rather loose in those days. In fact it was a miracle the process worked as well as it did considering how amateurish the whole cloning operation originally was. So Lori was hired to make sure the whole process worked right. She tore down the entire existing processes and made entirely new ones. She brought in new equipment, set up new standards, the whole works to comply with OSHA standards. And then production started up again.

…And we still had problems."

Interior of Isla Nublar: Richard Levine, Jack Thorne, and Martin Gutierrez had been given a gas powered Jeep by Ed Regis with the promise they'd be at the main gates in time for Ludlow's speech.

"I always knew this island existed, I just could never figure out where it was," said Gutierrez frustrated that he was finally on Jurassic Park if only for its final days. Nevertheless he had his camera out and was snapping photos of the deconstruction effort. At the moment, the trio were watching the crews take apart one of the many perimeter fences on the island.

"I'm sure," said Thorne absently as he looked at a map on the hood of the Jeep of where everything had been when Jurassic Park was still around. He made notations here and there before looking thoughtful.

"No silos," he muttered to himself.

"What?" asked Levine, bored, since there really were no dinosaurs on the island. He was also struggling to stay awake since they had to take that early morning boat ride to get here.

"I said there're no silos on this island. On Sorna they were all over the place," Thorne commented while trying to understand why that was.

"Well the tour guide said they were weather sensing equipment," Gutierrez pointed out. Levine meanwhile yawned into his hand thereby showing what his interest was in the conversation.

"I know that's what she said and I'm sure that's what she thinks they are," Thorne began. "But those silos are way too massive to contain only weather sensors. Also, there's some strange equipment on top of each one that has no function that I can think that's weather related. They're also placed all over the island. The jet stream flows from the west to the east so you're better off with sensors on the west side of the island and possibly the eastern wide. Not scattered all over. It doesn't add up."

"Well, nothing does about this damn place. But that's just the price you have to pay to see the dinosaurs," Levine grumbled, mainly to himself.

"They'd better let us know what happened here," Gutierrez swore. "If it happened once it could damn well happen again on that other island. And more importantly because if they're only now just finishing cleaning up their mess, that means these dinosaurs must've been loose on this island for at least a couple of weeks if not more. We had one dilophosaur carcass wash up at Costa Rica, but I can only guess how many more tried to escape. And for all I know they made it to the mainland and are now living in the jungles. InGen had better cough up some statistics on their residents here and it better be soon," he glowered.

While all three of them had different reasons for coming to Nublar, one thing held they all had in common; the gnawing feeling that in two and a half months something very bad was going to happen on Isla Sorna. And when it did, where would they be at that time.

San Diego, California: Sarah Harding finished flipping through the pamphlet, which didn't illuminate very much on the purpose of the structure or about Jurassic Park, and put it away in her backpack for future reference.

"So is this the part where you tell me something and I have to tell you something?" noted the animal behaviorist annoyed at not having all the cards. The mysterious individual gave a noncommittal shrug.

"If you want nothing more to do with me, just say so," the man told her. Sarah shook her head lightly at knowing she had no choice in the matter and so she just made a cyclical motion with her hand to indicate she was ready to hear what he had to say.

"Nublar," the man said. Sarah gave a conspiratorial smirk upon hearing that.

"Too late, I already know that," she said, pleased she could finally be one step ahead of the man. The figure gave her an annoyed look indicating he already knew she knew that.

"Indigo, Sorna," he continued punctually announcing both words knowing she knew neither of them.

"Okay, but that doesn't really help me. They're locations, I know that, but this is a big world and unless you're planning on telling me exactly where they are, then I could spend the rest of my life looking for them," Sarah pointed out. The man thought about that for a moment.

"You're right," he conceded as he snapped his fingers and a business card shot into his hand and gave it to her. Sarah looked at the business card which read:

_Robert 'Bob' Morris_

_Environmental Protection Agency_

_San Francisco, California_

And also gave his contact information.

"Who is this?" asked Sarah bewildered.

"Four years ago, he also was interested in InGen and just what it was they were really up to," the man supplied. "Find him and compare notes. You might find it…illuminating."

Sarah tucked away the business card but still wasn't sure what to make of it. She then looked at the man expectantly.

"So what do you need from me?" she asked next.

"Ian Malcolm," the man stated.

"You want him, you can have him," Sarah teased. The man gave her a sardonic smile.

"Have you kept up to date on his health situation?" he asked. Sarah shrugged.

"Off and on," she admitted. "I hear he's finally going to be let out of the hospital in a week or so but will still need some physical therapy. Why?"

The man looked at her grimly. "It is very important that he does not speak about what he saw at Jurassic Park. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."

"And why not?" asked Sarah desperately. What little she had gotten out of Ian were morphine induced ramblings. But if he was fully conscious and spoke about what he saw, that would finally solve the mystery of what was really going on.

"InGen is in a very precarious situation right now," the man told her. "In fact, they're barely holding together as a company. If your boyfriend talks then whatever plans they currently have will fall apart. And if that happens, your father's life will be in grave danger."

"Thanks for the advice," said Sarah, unsure what to do with it. "You know, I can fingerprint this and find out who you are," she continued in regards to the business card. The man laughed at the suggestion.

"Go for it," he goaded as he turned to leave. "If you think it will save your father then do whatever you think is necessary."

He continued walking as Sarah kept shouting out at him.

"What did you that's making you help me out with all of this?" she demanded. The man chuckled at her asking that question again.

"What makes you think I _did_ anything?" he had to ask. "Maybe I'm just doing this for kicks."

Sarah scowled briefly at that answer. "Is InGen making dinosaurs?" she asked, not caring if anyone nearby heard her. The man stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

"Find out," he suggested. And then he was gone from earshot as he continued walking down the road leaving Sarah by herself. She watched the man go for several moments before scowling deeply and lightly growling with her mouth still closed. She then looked at the business card for a few moments before deciding against ripping it up. She placed it in her shorts pocket and then walked off in the opposite direction hoping this investigation would be over soon.

Otherwise, she didn't want to have to think about what she'd have to do if Ian Malcolm did decide to start speaking about what had happened to him on Jurassic Park.

Isla Sorna: The workers were set up on metal fold-up chairs around picnic tables around the giant grill waiting for Ludlow's speech. On a nearby platform, Sheila Matula was fighting it out with the video projector that was supposed to be displaying an image on the side of the nearby semi-truck trailer…but wasn't. She had a diagram of the wiring of the device while checking the connections for the umpteenth time.

"I swear this is the last time I let Tim abandon me here," she complained annoyed. By being the only programmer and technician, that meant she had to fix everything electronically that broke on the island or just plain wasn't working right.

Looking at the projector one more time, she wiped some sweat off of her forehead before resigning herself to using her final trick in her repertoire. She pulled back her hand and smacked the projector and it finally fired up and displayed a blue screen on the side of the trailer. The image would change to the feed from Nublar once the broadcast began.

Smiling happily to herself while wiping her hands, Sheila felt the tense energy drain from her body and so she left in search of a drink. In doing so, she passed by a table with Colin Maken, Katrice Maken, Abby Nakajima, Derek Hoyle, and Carly Carlson sitting around it. When the senior staff had left to go to Nublar that effectively left Carly in charge and she was enjoying it thanks to the fact that she wouldn't be in charge tomorrow when the Lockdown went into effect.

"Colin, I'm hungry," Katrice whimpered for the thousandth time. She was in her best yellow sundress and an oversized sun hat which for some reason she wore despite being underneath the table's umbrella. Colin groaned lightly as he rested his head on his hand and looked over at her.

"Well they won't be serving dinner until 7:00 so you'll have to wait," he said unsympathetically. "If you're hungry now you can have a salad but that's it."

"But I need energy and protein because my energy is fading fast," Katrice rasped as if her life force was being drained.

"Then maybe next time you won't eat an entire box of Fruit Loops for breakfast and then crash like this after your sugar high," he shuddered at how she had been this morning. This was why he was currently restricting her caloric intake as a form of punishment. "Besides, you're only feeling hungry because you're bored. Find something to do to take your mind off of food."

Katricee sulked on that for a few moments.

"When does the senior staff get back?" she asked seemingly out of the blue. Colin was about to respond when he saw a mischievous glint in her eye.

"They'll get back when they get back," he said, knowing his younger sister wanted to go bug Jake Whitacre. "Why don't you play your Gameboy?"

Katrice sighed and held her head in her hands. "I can't because the batteries are dead and the general store isn't open until tomorrow," she remarked as Colin narrowly avoided rolling his eyes at her weak excuse. "Besides, I've beaten all the games I have."

Colin eyed her doubtfully. "Even Star Fox?" he asked since in their shared two-bedroom apartment they had an SNES, Sega Genesis, and other consoles.

"Yes," said Katrice exasperated.

"All the routes?"

"Yes,"

"What about Streets of Rage?"

"Yes and with all three characters,"

"Contra?"

"What do you think?"

Collin was about to ask her about Final Fantasy V when Carly cut in knowing their conversation could last until the evening.

"Why didn't you ask Tim to buy you some new games when he went to the mainland?" she asked curious. Katrice gave her a perplexed look.

"I didn't because my birthday is already past and I'm waiting until Christmas to write a letter to Santa," she said innocently. The others in the group stared at her at that statement before turning to look at Colin who deliberately avoided their gazes. How was he supposed to explain that he'd told his sister about the Santa situation multiple times but she refused to accept it?

"Well, you know," began Abby with a grin spreading on her face. "It's Christmas in July right now."

"What?" asked Katrice perking up, confused.

"Well we're pretty well close to the equator. Since its summer here that means its winter over there. And so to have a winter festival those south of the equator sometimes have Christmas in July," she continued amusingly while having a sip of her lemonade. "So you'd better get your letter to Santa while you still can."

Panic crossed Katrice's face at her dwindling opportunity as she started to say a thousand jumbled words at once.

"Easy there," said Colin as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I asked Tim to bring something back for us, so you're covered."

Katrice breathed a sigh of relief, but the sudden surge of energy coupled with her sugar crash from earlier caused her to abruptly collapse onto the table.

"How about you go play at the arcade. I can give you some quarters if you need some," she offered. Colin looked at the confused scientist apologetically.

"She's temporarily banned from the arcade," he admitted sheepishly.

"What, why?" asked Carly confused.

Colin scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well partly because she beat the entire Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine with one credit and Jake accused her of cheating. But mainly because she was up one night before the last arcade tournament practicing her skills and in the morning we found her in a sleep deprived state trying to eat the Bass Anglers arcade cabinet."

Laughter bubbled up from the rest of the group and soon they were laughing hard at that statement. Colin looked over at this sister who was now out cold and mumbling something in her sleep about 'Sonic Fishies'.

"Well I can relate because I've made this goof sit with me through all the romance films we have in the library a million times," said Abby lightly elbowing Derek in the chest. "I'm sure he'll get the courage to make a move sometime. And since its Christmas in July, maybe he can kiss me under the mistletoe over the entrance to the repair shop."

The 'mistletoe' was just a mangled up tailpipe that was strung up but it was the closest thing to what Abby mentioned. The group chuckled together again a little bit, although Derek's chuckle was a nervous one.

"Well I hate to bring this up now, but on a more serious note, how are your investigations proceeding?" asked Carly pointedly. The group cautiously looked around at the tables nearest them, but the occupants were either engaged in conversation or just relaxing in the afternoon sun.

"Well, Katrice and I are still examining all the organs we harvested out of that raptor," Colin said. "We've gone through and cataloged most of them already. But analyzing them will take more time because we can only get so much time in the lab with the power saving restrictions."

Carly nodded her head in acknowledgment as she wrote down what he said into her notebook.

"I'll see if I can get any leeway with Sam over the power restrictions," she mentioned. "Abby, Derek, what've you got?"

Derek straightened up in his chair to answer her. While romance was an area where he felt out of his league, genetics was his calling in life.

"Analyses on our part are also slow going because of power restrictions. However, as far as we can tell right now from all the genetic blueprints, there's nothing in the base code that would account for what we saw when the dinos went crazy," he began, mystified by this.

"Although we still pursuing some leads based on what we think could cause what we saw," Abby chimed in before taking a sip of her smoothie.

"Do you have any guesses?" asked Carly curious. Abby shrugged.

"Of course," she stated as if that were obvious. "But none is more likely than the next right now so until then..."

Silence fell on the group after that as each contemplated the situation they were in. Except for Katrice who was still asleep on the table with her sunhat still on.

"Has anyone given any thought to what's going to happen if the fences fail?" asked Colin after a few moments of hesitation on bringing up the subject. The others looked at him surprised.

"You think we'll still be here when that happens?" asked Abby concerned. Colin gave a lopsided grimace at her remark.

"I couldn't help but notice that InGen didn't have much of a plan for dealing with total power failure on Jurassic Park," he noticed. "And if they didn't for there they might not for here either. I don't care what happens to me, but I'm not letting Katrice suffer like they did," he promised while reaching over with his hand and lightly rubbing his sister's back. Despite only being 21 at the time, he'd been in the unexpected position of having had to raise her since she was 15 and he'd do anything to protect her.

Carly looked at the group's expressions for deciding to play mediator. "We can worry about that later. Right now we have more important things to do. Besides, I heard rumblings that that Jake and Henry have a contingency plan if things do go south. They'll deal with things if that happens, I know they will."

Although what that plan was or if it would even work, nobody at the table knew.

SS Venture, Isla Sorna Docks: "Lori doesn't usually make mistakes like that," Daniela commented in regards to the Head of Production revamping an entire system and still not getting results.

"Well the good news was that she hadn't made a mistake," Samantha agreed. "Instead of losing an egg here or there, we were now losing an occasional entire clutch of eggs. That allowed Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves to isolate the specific DNA sequences that had been made to create those clutches and do further analyses on them."

"What did they find out?" asked Daniela, her interest piqued.

Samantha took a look at her notes to make sure she wasn't missing anything since this had all occurred before she'd been hired. "As they were analyzing the DNA for anything and everything, someone else noticed the dinosaurs we were losing were all from the Cretaceous Period. That same person-I don't know who it was because the notes don't say-suggested carbon dating the mosquito amber fragments we'd gotten the strands from."

"And?" asked Daniela needing to know as it seemed they were getting to the important part of this conversation.

"It turns out that the fragments had come from the time period when the K-T Event was supposed to have occurred," Samantha revealed ominously. "So we could successfully clone dinosaurs from up and down the Mesozoic Era. But once you hit around the 65 million year-old mark, nothing, the creatures wouldn't survive," she added with a slice of her hand for emphasis.

"Amazing," said Daniela at a complete loss. None of this had ever been mentioned to her before.

"With that in mind, the senior scientists did a much more focused analysis on the strands and then the truth became clear," Samantha continued. "It turns out that InGen was so focused on discovering ways to bring the dinosaurs to life…that in the process they'd inadvertently stumbled upon how they all died.

And it is the end of the dinosaurs which is where E.L.E. begins…"


	39. Downtime

Nublar: The DC-3 roared over the East Docks headed for the interior of the island and in doing so it passed over the East Docks where S.S. Venture was being prepped to head out for Sorna. As workers stowed their gear and made ready for the voyage, Daniela St. Ives emerged from Samantha Brown's cabin in a daze after having finally learned everything about E.L.E…including all three stages of its protocols. And she felt completely sick to her stomach from what she'd heard.

Behind her, Samantha locked up her room and followed her down the steps to the ground and walked across the docks to a waiting gas powered Jurassic Park Jeep. The two got in and Samantha turned the key in the ignition and drove the car into the interior of the island as the SS Venture departed for Isla Sorna.

After a few moment of driving in silence, Daniela finally felt the need to speak up about what she just learned.

"H-how does something like this even get thought up?" she asked somewhere between helplessness and disgust about the whole thing. Samantha had to think about it for a moment. There was a lot she didn't know about E.L.E. and probably never would but she realized that the details weren't important, understanding the human psyche was.

"You do it when you feel you have no other choice," she stated softly. Daniela wanted to argue that point but the Board Member held up her hand to quiet her.

"It's easy to say 'you always have a choice' but we all know the truth, sometimes there isn't one," she concluded. Daniela slowly nodded her head and stared out the window hoping it would distract her from her inner turmoil.

"They were right," she said aloud and then added more about seeing Samantha's questioning look, "Jake and Henry said that once you learned about E.L.E. you'd never want to bring it up in regular conversation. And I didn't take them seriously when they said it. Now I know better."

Samantha nodded her head but otherwise concentrated on driving. Daniela for her part just sighed heavily and continued to stare out the window at the emptiness of the island with a dreadful sense of foreboding. Neither one of them wanted to think about what situation had led to the creation of E.L.E.

Interior of the island: The DC-3 roared down a dirt path before coming to a stop close to the Jurassic Park gates where the stage, podium, and chairs were being set up by the workers. As it came to a halt, the rear door popped open and Jennifer walked down the steps to the ground.

"I told Hammond a thousand times I could land this thing in the interior of the island without trouble or disturbing any of the dinosaurs but he never let me. Instead he said he'd build an airstrip with pilings out into the ocean. 'Like Laguardia, only safer!' my ass," ranted Jennifer to Kevin annoyed. Kevin sighed at hearing her boast about her piloting skills for the umpteenth time. He looked over at the workers who had scattered and hid in fear when Jennifer brought the plane down right on their doorstep and lowered his head in shame. She was a daredevil pilot and one of the best, but her pride often made her take unnecessary risks. It was little wonder that she and Jake butted heads so often due to their egos.

"Thank you for getting us here so quickly, but you didn't need to bring us down right here," Ludlow commented as he emerged from the plane a little off kilter from the quick landing. He headed out to the podium accompanied by Stephanie Sandelder where Ed Regis was waiting for them. The two teenagers, Arby and Kelly stepped out of the plane and yawned heavily while stretching their limbs.

"Hey kids, long time no see. How's it going?" asked Doc Thorne walking up to them with a smile on his face. The two teenagers gave him a sleepy smile.

"Is there a place to get some food around here?" Arby asked. Thorne nodded his head.

"Follow me and I'll get you some food and then we'll go see Richard," he promised and the trio walked off with him to a nearby vehicle and it trundled off. At that point the final passenger of the plane, Tim the programmer, emerged and looked around the place.

"This isn't Sorna, I want a refund!" he faux-protested. Jennifer gave him a dour look.

"The boat just left but if you want to swim after it, I won't stop you," she promised. Tim shuddered at that prospect.

"Well thanks for getting us here alive then," he hastily admitted and then wandered off to go see if the production crew needed any help with setup.

"C'mon let's thrown some chocks on this thing and check the plane," Kevin ordered as Jennifer nodded her head and the two went to work.

Further inland: "So what happened after I last saw you here?" asked Henry Wu curious. He, Jake Whitacre, and Gerry Harding were sitting at table eating some food as they waited to be taken to the reception area.

"You don't want to know the details," Gerry told them dismissively. "Except I found out where Laura's missing clutch of Troodon eggs on Sorna went. It turns out they wound up on Nublar."

That revelation stunned Jake and Henry.

"How?" the two scientists asked in unison. Gerry shrugged and threw up his hands in confusion.

"When Laura sent them in to be tested, I think they got mislabeled or something and were accidentally sent there instead rather than being returned to her," Harding figured. Dr. Laura Sorkin was another geneticist like Jake and Henry except she tended to deal with the more vicious and poisonous dinosaurs. Dimetrodons, Troodons, Dilophosaurs, and more were her work and she constantly studied them. Because of the danger if the subjects got loose, she tended to be a recluse and that suited her just fine. She really did not like being distracted in her work. Her laboratory was way up in the mountains and the only person with her was her assistant, David Banks. Routine supply deliveries, routine security checks, and them showing up at required company functions were the only reason anyone knew they were still alive.

"Were you able to return them-," began Jake when Gerry shook immediately shook his head grimly.

"They'd already hatched," he muttered. Jake and Henry both shivered in fear at hearing that.

"And before you ask, I took care of it," the veterinarian also told them. The two scientists were extremely relieved upon that.

"Did you have a chance to tell her yet?" Henry asked curious. Gerry shook his head.

"I've been too busy and you know how she is when it comes to being bothered," he reminded them. Laura tended to give an earful when anyone invaded her domain and giving bad news was greeted even worse.

"I think a field trip to her fortress might be in order after the lockdown goes into effect," Henry mused. Jake nodded his head in agreement.

"May as well touch base and make her life miserable," he yawned as Harding got up.

"I think I need to have another go at the food before the speech starts. Excuse me," he said and with that he was gone from the table.

"You think she might have some clue about the problems we're having with the lysine contingency?" asked Jake in a hushed tone after Harding left. Henry shrugged.

"Well she was the biggest opponent against the contingency at the time and she did try to bypass it once," the scientist mused. "I don't really think she's responsible for what's going on now but she would be the one to ask about her opinion on what we've encountered so far."

Jake nodded his head. "Now if only we could get off this damn island and get to work," he muttered. "So when is this stupid ceremony supposed to start?!" Jake yelled at no one in particular.

"Quit being lazy and go find out!" shouted Bobbie from a distance as Lori laughed. Jake grumbled to himself and then rested his head on his hand and stared out in the opposite direction.

At a nearby table, Richard Levine had his head resting on the tabletop as he tried to get some sleep. Across from him, Marty Gutierrez had a map out of Nublar and was feverishly making notations on it as well as on another map showing InGen's island assets in relation to Costa Rica.

"Dr. Levine!" said a couple of voice startling the two. Levine immediately shot up, fully alert.

"Paparazzi!" he said in terror before the blood rushed to his head and he felt a little woozy and had to stay still until his vision cleared.

"No, it's us!" said Arby and Kelly walking up to him.

"Oh, hey kids, how's it going?" said Levine genuinely even though he felt like hell.

"It's a warm sunny day and we're in a tropical paradise," Kelly began. "So things are going great!"

"Wonderful," said Levine not feeling all that cheerful. "Hey look…"

The sound of a honking vehicle pulling up to the tables immediately diverted everyone's attention. From the car, Samantha Brown and Daniela St. Ives emerged. The two students wanted to walk up to join Daniela, but she caught their gaze and with a slight shake of her head warned them off for now. The two held back as Samantha got up on a table.

"Hello everyone, sorry for making you wait so long but Peter Ludlow is just about ready for us," said the Board Member. "So if you'll head for the vehicles, we'll soon be started."

Everyone started forward at that ready to get off the island. Bobbie and Lori greeted Daniela immediately and led her away towards a vehicle. But before Daniela's head completely turned, she shot a darkened look at Jake and Henry. The two didn't look away, but greeted her gaze head on and then walked into a nearby vehicle and the convoy headed off towards the main gate.

Isla Sorna: Sheila had just finished chasing away Katrice who was making shadow puppets on the projection screen when the screen came to life and Tim appeared on the other end.

"Sheila, you there?" he asked. Heads turned towards the screen for a moment before returning to their conversations as they realized the speech was still a few minutes in coming.

"Yo," said the female programmer as she popped a gum bubble.

"We go live in fifteen minutes," Tim informed his colleague. Sheila nodded her head.

"We're good to go on our end," she confirmed before adding hesitantly: "And you will be back before we set off the fireworks, right? Because I don't want a repeat of last year's disaster…"

That caused some spooked looks from those still listening in on their conversation.

"Yes, yes, I'll triple check everything," Tim assured her. "Now where are with the power shutdown? Did you get everything set for Embryonics Adminstration and the Hammond Administration buildings?"

"Yes," said Sheila a little aggravated he didn't think she could do her job. "There's a CRAY running a last minute program but it'll shut down at about the same time Ludlow should be done with his speech. Then it is set to run the building under minimum power with the exception of certain intervals where power will be at normal in order to give the scientists some time to still work."

"Good," said Tim pleased, although he was a little perplexed by a CRAY still running. Per his last conversation with Lori, those should've been shut off hours ago.

"Hey, earth to Tim!" said Sheila after she noticed his distant look. "What's up?"

Blinking, Tim looked at the camera again.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," he apologized. "So what about the Fortress?"

The topic had its intended effect on the female programmer as it caused her to completely forget his momentary zoning out.

"Uh-uh, no way!" she insisted. "You want to cut power there, you take care of it!"

Tim looked like he was about to respond when something caught his attention.

"Howdy Tim," said Jake Whitacre in a Southern drawl from offscreen. "What's up?"

"What else, everything," the male programmer joked before turning serious. "We can discuss this later, Sheila. Let's test the audio/video quality of this transmission."

"Right," said the female programmer all business, glad to finally be doing something she enjoyed. Tim gave an apologetic glance to Jake at not being able to continue talking with him. Jake for his part nodded and then turned away to look at the DC-3.

"Now who would be crazy enough to fly that thing in here?" he asked rhetorically. Henry shook his head in shame at his fellow scientist even bothering to say such a thing out loud. And then Jake found himself in a headlock from Jennifer.

"You criticize my flying again and I'll put you back in that hospital," she swore. Jake pretended to struggle against her as the other members of the senior staff largely chose to ignore them.

"Do I need to separate you two…again?" Samantha asked pointedly with a raised eyebrow.

"Help, help, I'm being oppressed," Jake rasped.

"Oh you're concerned about that but not about harassing me every time you can about my flying abilities?" Jennifer balked. Samantha could barely avoid rolling her eyes at their predicament.

"I swear you two are a HR manager's nightmare," the Board Member muttered.

"In all fairness, I don't think she can totally choke him from that position," Bobbie chimed in giving her medical opinion. "C'mon, Lori, let's go find good seats near the back so we can bolt once the speech is over."

"Right," said the Head of Production in full agreement as they left for their seats. As soon as they were gone, Henry turned to face Samantha.

"I'm a little disappointed that Hammond isn't here," he admitted. Samantha nodded her head in sympathy.

"I wish he was here too but from what I hear he's still not in the best of shape to be travelling," she revealed. Henry looked at her concerned.

"Health problems?" he asked in a whispered voice so as not to be overheard. Samantha shrugged lightly.

"Maybe," she offered noncommittally. "I'm going to try and see him in the next few weeks to touch base about the company. I'll know more then."

"Please do," Henry requested, concerned for his boss's safety.

"If it makes you feel better he will be watching the live feed like they are on Sorna and back at headquarters," Samantha said trying to be comforting. Henry nodded his head at least a little relieved that the boss wasn't totally out of action.

"I just hope he isn't seeing this," Henry muttered as he pointed at Jake and Jennifer who had maneuvered over to where the camera was pointing. From the speaker from Sorna it was clear those on the other island were enjoying what they were seeing.

"Me neither," Samantha readily agreed with him. "You two knock it off it's time to take your seats!"

Jennifer finally relented at that and let Jake go who then made an exaggerated gesture of rubbing his throat. Boos were briefly heard from the speakers but then died down as Tim and Sheila finished their equipment checks. The group then headed towards the white wooden lawn chairs as Samantha headed for the stage which was located right in front of the large Jurassic Park main gate.

From his vantage point on the stage, Peter Ludlow viewed the whole affair with disdain but he knew better than to say anything to them. So instead he turned to Sam Stone.

"Sam, I know things have been very hectic lately on Sorna and that is only going to increase once the lockdown goes into effect tomorrow," Ludlow fully admitted. Sam nodded his head but otherwise said nothing.

"Of course I feel fully responsible for that so I want to be able to help you out as best I can," Ludlow continued. "So I would like to introduce you to Ms. Stephanie Sandelder. She was the main receptionist at headquarters but she is a fully qualified administrative assistant and can help you in whatever official capacity you will need over the coming months."

Sam was fully taken aback by that abrupt statement and he looked over at the young woman standing next to him who he had just assumed was either Ludlow's personal assistant or a representative of Cowain, Swain, and Ross.

"You do know what you're getting yourself into, right?" he had to ask of her. Stephanie gave a curt nod of her head.

"Yes. I realize that things are going to get very…tense on your island over the next few months but I genuinely feel I would be better serving this company by being on Sorna," she told him. "You need to keep your attention focused on important matters with running the island and not having to worry about also keeping up with every administrative task."

Sam had to agree with that as he had been without a secretary for quite awhile. He had managed up to now to keep up his work but it had been getting harder and harder ever since the Jurassic Park Incident.

"Welcome aboard," he said with a warm smile as he held out his hand. Stephanie immediately grasped it.

"Glad to be part of the team," she agreed. Ludlow did his best not to smile at the interaction but he was definitely pleased that the Head of Sorna had accepted her without much reservation. He had a feeling the others would not be as welcoming but as long as Sam stuck by her, she'd be able to do her assigned tasks…and report back to him about what was really going on with that island.

The two were heading off to take their seats when Samantha stepped up onto the stage to greet him.

"Hello Peter," she acknowledged before looking at the departing figures oddly. "Was that Stephanie? What's she doing here?"

"She's been temporarily reassigned to Sorna," said Ludlow deciding the best response was a straightforward one as he headed for the podium. Everyone in their seats turned their attention towards him expecting his speech to begin but given the lighting system wasn't fired up and Samantha was accompanying him, they quickly realized things were not about to start right away.

"But I never approved of any…," began the Director of Human Resources when Ludlow held up a hand to silence her concerns.

"It was last minute decision on my part so I didn't have time to clear it with you," he continued trying to sound placating since he knew Samantha would be a different kind of sell since she knew company policies and procedures backwards and forwards having written most of them.

"She'll only be there for the duration of the Lockdown and then I'll be recalling her," the COO added. Samantha still looked at him warily but knew that with the Lockdown she had to more carefully choose her battles and this wasn't a battle currently worth fighting.

"Very well but I'd still like all personnel changes forwarded through me first," she requested. Ludlow bowed his head in response before looking out and surveying the audience. There were four blocks of five chairs each in two rows making for a total of twenty chairs. Next to them was the food services table and behind them was the audio-visual setup in front of the DC-3. The Sorna senior staff was already in their seats talking amongst themselves and with Daniela St. Ives. Near to them, the investigative team was also in their seats with Arby and Kelly eagerly talking to Levine and Thorne as Gutierrez had his camera out and was taking photos of the landscape around him for some reason. Behind them, Tim was working the lens on the camera while speaking with Sheila on Sorna to try and get good audiovisual quality for those watching remotely.

The stage itself was a standard pre-fabricated piece made of wood that was about five feet off the ground and had a black apron on it with the InGen logo clearly displayed. Besides the stairs leading up to the stage, the podium was the only thing on the stage itself. There was no curtain behind him as the Jurassic Park main gate pretty much served as the backing for the stage area which made for a much more interesting visual, Ludlow thought.

"Five minutes until go time," said Samantha looking at her watch. Ludlow leaned on the podium and then turned to face her.

"Would you be willing to give a brief statement before I start?" he requested. Samantha looked at him very confused.

"You want me to introduce you?" she asked. Ludlow shook his head.

"No, just give a brief pep talk," he stated.

"But I already said my peace to them back on…,"

"Please," Ludlow insisted. "It'll be good for morale."

Samantha sighed quietly to herself.

"Very well," she relented before grabbing the microphone. "Alright everyone, we'll be starting in a couple minutes."

That finally did grab everyone's attention as they all looked forward with rapt attention.

Embryonics Administration Building, Isla Sorna: The time was winding down for the Cray-XMP to finish its analysis of the DNA strands before the power was cut to it. It had nearly completed the comparison but it still needed more time. Time it really didn't have.


	40. The Speech

Staff on Nublar, Sorna, the SS Anne, and the SS Venture either sat in front of the stage, watching TV sets, or the projection screen as they watched the proceedings about to unfold with both anticipation and dread. In San Diego, the Board of Directors watched with largely apathy as they already knew what Ludlow was to say and none of it concerned their futures.

In his loft in San Diego, John Hammond sat watching the remote feed and was going to record every moment of it for future analysis. Of particular interest to him was not even necessarily was his nephew was going to say, but of the occasional faint comments the microphone could pick up from the workers from Sorna who were in attendance.

And elsewhere in San Diego, Lewis Dodgson was watching an intercepted signal of the feed with a smug expression on his face. As far as he was concerned things couldn't be going better since Nedry's abysmal failure had nearly cost him everything. With a small glass of cognac on the table, he picked it up and briefly pointed it at the image as if giving a toast.

Finally, at the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Headquarters, John Brown also had the feed being displayed on his television set but he was busy using his computer to analyze how the reconstruction of the dinosaur DNA fragments was proceeding to pay much attention to the broadcast. However, he did turn his attention to the screen briefly to watch his ex-wife walk across the stage to the podium to begin her introduction.

Isla Nublar: Samantha Brown took the stage and looked down at the workers in front of her as well as at the camera near the back of the stage.

"Hello everyone," she began amicably. "I'd start with a light joke about thanking you all for being here today or something else along those lines, but I think we all know that would be inappropriate given the circumstances that brought us here today," she continued now completely serious. "I've already said what I've need to say to most of you already, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to go over it once more since the Lockdown will be going into effect at midnight tonight."

Even for everyone who had already heard what she had to say, they still listened as intently as they had before. Ludlow did as well because he was curious what she had said that hadn't been televised.

"Even though it will only be the first day of the Lockdown, for those of you on Site B, starting tomorrow things will suddenly seem different. It won't be anything you can put your finger on; things will just seem off somehow. Over time that feeling will only intensify and you'll try to reconcile it by saying it's your imagination. Then you will notice that changes really are affecting the island. Power supplies will become more and more constrained, food and other supplies will be rationed heavily, and work will become scarcer. This will then leave you with your fears and the frightening feeling that the jungle is somehow encroaching on you and within it are creatures with big snapping teeth and razor sharp claws ready to tear you apart.

"Finally, you'll want to get away from the island to try and clear your head only there won't be able to leave," said Samantha concluding the bleak mental picture.

Ludlow immediately got the feeling that asking her to come on stage had been a mistake.

"So why am I painting such a stark picture?" Samantha said, asking the obvious question. "The point I'm trying to make is this, as all of this is going on in your head, you have to realize somewhere deep inside that everyone else around you is going to be experiencing the exact same thing. Your friends and co-workers are the only ones you will be able to count on during the Lockdown. Work with them, trust them, and do not turn them away. Together you will make rational sane decisions and you will ultimately survive. But if instead you turn on each other then you've just thrown away your future."

It was a strange way of giving a pep talk, Ludlow had to admit but at least it was ending on an optimistic note as he began to walk across the stage to the podium.

"I only have one last point to make," said Samantha tensely as she saw Ludlow walking towards her and knew her time was up. "If it comes down to it and it's a choice between you and them then do whatever it takes to save yourselves."

She briefly made eye contact with Jake and Henry before motioning to Peter Ludlow.

"And now I am pleased to introduce our COO, Peter Ludlow," she said and then walked off the stage. Ludlow took the podium and looked out at the audience who was in complete silence after Samantha Brown's speech.

"Thank you Samantha for that very interesting and certainly thought provoking speech," Ludlow acknowledged although inwardly he was a little peeved that she had told the workers to put their interests above the dinosaurs. Without them they really had no future.

"Let me start off by saying that I fully agree with her main point," he began, inwardly pleased at the small measure of surprise that registered on the workers in front of him. "During the Lockdown you absolutely should learn to rely on one another. If nothing else it would be a good team building exercise," he said, trying to add a little levity. It didn't work as instead of laughter he got a lot of annoyed looks from the audience. Clearing his throat, he looked down at his notes on the podium

"But what I want to let you know is that you are not alone," Ludlow continued positively. "Because no matter what has happened or will happen in the future, the Board of Directors has _not_ abandoned you."

Out in the audience, Samantha Brown avoided the impulse to shake her head in shame at Ludlow's last statement. Sam Stone meanwhile shifted uneasily in his seat as he recalled Samantha's comments to him on what that statement usually meant. Bobbie for her part who had been secretly listening in on their conversation back then felt her heart drop into her stomach. Ludlow's statement also inferred that the rest of what Samantha had had to say to Sam about the Board's opinions about Site B were also true.

"So what do you make of that?" asked Henry lightly to Jake, curious to hear what his answer was.

"Oh, it just means Ludlow's already sold us up the river. But what else is new?" Jake said slouched down in his chair with his arms crossed as if it was to be expected. Henry grinned slightly before reflecting on what this meant and turning dour before deciding being depressed just wasn't worth it either and began formulating his plans for what to do once the Lockdown went into effect.

"But of course some changes will be coming over the next few months," Ludlow informed the group. "I know Ms. Brown has already informed most of you of these changes but I feel the need to reiterate them so we are all on the same page…"

John Brown had largely returned to his work at that point in the speech, but the mentioning of his ex-wife caused him to pause briefly. He still could never figure out why she had never gone back to having her maiden name after they had separated.

In his office, Lewis Dodgson was watching with interest at what looked to be a growing chasm in both InGen's upper management and between the upper management and the regular staff. He would have to keep tabs on that and see if it might present some opportunities in the future.

Samantha Brown for her part could also sense a growing unease and discontent amongst the workers present on the island with every passing word of Ludlow's speech about the timeline for the Lockdown. Their feelings concerned her more than the company surviving financially with Jurassic Park's demise. And she knew Ludlow was well aware also. But she still couldn't get a complete read on what he would do once the tensions started mounting between the Board and the Sorna staff members. In the past she knew what he had done, but that had been two years ago. Now it was anyone's guess and that worried her also. She'd have to keep a close eye on it or else risk losing everything.

On Sorna, the workers listened to Ludlow with much the same reaction as those on Nublar…that being a giant pit growing in their stomachs with each word about what was to come. Sheila didn't even bother blowing bubbles with her gum she was listening so intently on what was being said. Even Katrice was well aware that what was being said was important to her future and so she had put her childish antics to the side for now.

With theirs and everyone else's attentions so focused on the projector screen, no one noticed two late arrivals in the form of Dr. Laura Sorkin and her assistant David Banks. They arrived at the village and take a pair of empty seats in the back. Although the two of them could easily have watched the proceedings from the Fortress, they felt it was important to put in a personal appearance seeing as how they'd really be stuck with all of them once the Lockdown went into full effect. It also didn't hurt that the Fourth the July barbecue promised to be a good one.

"But what I want to finish with is this," said Ludlow coming to his final conclusion as he leaned forward for emphasis. Regardless of whatever anyone had been thinking up until then, everyone strained to hear what was going to be said. And it almost seemed as if the dinosaurs were listening as well as their normal roars and growls had been silent ever since the projector screen came on.

"Whatever happens in the next two and a half months be sure to remember you don't forget the following," the COO continued.

"We resurrected those dinosaurs from a lost world,

Successfully cloning those creatures represents our greatest victory,

And now that those dinosaurs represent our future,

…Showcasing those dinosaurs to the world is our destiny!" Ludlow said with emphasis.

"It's not just about reviving the past. At Ingen, we make your future!"

The clock's second hand inched towards 5:00.

On the Cray XMP sitting on Sorna, the power down mode was inching ever closer to activating. But just moments before turning off, the computer spat out one final important piece of information.

"ALERT: GENETIC VARIANCE DETECTED BETWEEN DNA STRANDS"

And then the unit shut down as the clock struck 5:00.

Later:

The Sorna senior staff was now clustered around the rear of the DC-3 waiting as Kevin and Jennifer made final checks before boarding and take-off.

"Hey, receptionist-person, aren't you supposed to be taking the boat back to the mainland?" Jake asked aloud what everyone in the group was wondering. Stephanie had been standing silently by herself just to the side as the main group was wary of outsiders.

"I have been reassigned to Sorna," she answered simply. That caused hair to bristle up on the entire group.

Jake was about to say something else when Sam Stone approached the group.

"Oh, I see you've already started to get to know each other better," he said, sounding pleased. "Everyone, this is Stephanie Sandelder from the corporate office. She'll be my temporary administrative assistant until this whole Lockdown mess blows over."

As Sam then introduced the group, everyone gave a diplomatic hello and shook hands. Sam tensed slightly as Stephanie was introduced to Henry and then Jake. He seriously expected Jake to speak his mind about the whole situation, which probably wouldn't be good for Stephanie having any chance of successfully acclimating to the group, but the scientist surprisingly played nice and added nothing beyond his standard hello.

"Hey everybody, we're ready to board," said Jennifer finally as she stuck her head out the rear hatch. "Except you, Jake, you can walk from here."

"Oh, ha, ha," said the scientist sarcastically. The group was about to board when Samantha hurried to catch up with them before they left.

"I just wanted to say goodbye," she offered. The others nodded their heads solemnly knowing they might not see her for quite some time; or if the fences failed and they were still stuck on Sorna, perhaps never again.

"But Pete can't offer the same sentiments?" asked Henry harshly. Peter Ludlow was off speaking on a satellite phone with the Board of Directors while also doing some minor supervision of the deconstruction effort of the stage and main gate.

"He means well," the Head of Human Resources offered lamely. Everyone knew it wasn't the case, but sometimes hollow words from someone they trusted sounded better than the actual truth.

Samantha felt like she wanted to say something more but couldn't find the right words to calm their fears…if only she had the time.

"Alright, get this over with and knock this thing down!" Ludlow was heard shouting in the distance. And then the sound of wood creaking was heard and everyone turned to watch as the main gate of Jurassic Park was pushed over and landed with a loud thud on the ground. Turning back, Samantha could see the fear and betrayal on the faces of every one of them.

"C'mon, let's blow this joint," ordered Sam, finally unable to hide the bitterness in his voice. The group turned as one and marched into the aircraft as if marching to their graves. Samantha again couldn't find the right words to say in this situation even as Jennifer leaned out to close the hatch.

"You may want to step back because we're going to have to execute a zero point turn in order to get out of here," she suggested. "You might want to warn the others back there that there is going to be a big draft coming from these engines when we turn around," the pilot added. Samantha looked over at Ludlow still ordering workers around while still on his phone before turning to Jennifer with a dangerous glint in her eye and a wicked smile on her face.

"Let's not and say I did," she offered instead. Jennifer was a little taken aback by that at first before she began chuckling to herself.

"Right on," she agreed wholeheartedly. She then slammed the hatch shut and the plane's engines fired up. Ludlow was so distracted that he didn't even notice the plane start moving and then turn around until he was blasted by a large gust of wind along with the rest of the workers as the plane faced the other direction. He struggled to stand up against the buffeting air as the stage behind him flew apart and then the plane shot off down the dirt road. But that final burst of energy from the plane was too much for the COO and he collapsed to the ground…all of which was caught on camera and broadcast to those who had been watching his previous speech.

On Sorna, the workers laughed and laughed.

Even later:

The DC-3 finally landed back on Sorna and the senior staff helped to put the plane back in the hangar so that Kevin and Jennifer could join them for the July 4th barbecue. As they were about to board the tour vehicles to head back to the Workers Village, Sam reminded them that tonight was their last opportunity to call him in quite a while.

"Who are you thinking about calling?" asked Lori to Bobbie. Bobbie shrugged.

"Maybe call my friends Doug and Carol and bug them about them being stuck working at a hospital in Chicago while I'm down here at a clinic in the tropics," she mused. "And then ask them about best practices for removing a six-inch retractable razor from a patient while leaving out the part about how that razor is actually the toe-claw from a six foot tall creature that's been extinct for 65 million years…"

Lori nodded her head in sympathy. "Yeah, whenever I call my colleagues for advice with the cloning production process, I have to leave out the part about what's being cloned. They tease me that I must be either trying to mass-produce nanobots or androids. It's no longer funny anymore but let's face it, engineers aren't exactly known for their sense of humor."

"Present company excluded of course thanks to that prank you pulled with the production machines last April Fools Day," Daniela pointed out. All three women began laughing at that as they got into one of the vehicles.

"You going to call anybody?" asked Jake to Henry.

"Family, I guess. What about you?"

Jake shrugged. "I've really got nobody to call, you know that."

"Well that's not true," Henry disagreed barely containing laughter. "You could always call your fiancée."

Jake groaned heavily upon hearing that as Henry chuckled heavily into his hands.

"Oh, don't remind me of that nutcase," Jake said, aggravated about Henry bringing up such an embarrassing subject. "And she's not my fiancée!"

"That's not what she claims," said Gerry hearing them talking and deciding to join in, knowing what they were discussing.

"She's insane!" Jake insisted.

"We'll she'd have to be to want to marry you," Henry pointed out. Jake roared out loud briefly before hunching over as Jake and Gerry patted him sympathetically on the back as they led him to a tour vehicle.

"What was that about?" asked Tim to Sam, bewildered.

"Oh, just something reckless Jake did back during the Kenya days," the Head of Operations answered. "It's not as exciting as they're making it sound; although, it was completely hilarious."

"Oh," said Tim still confused but knowing he couldn't really ask for more information.

"So how're things with finding out what Nedry did to take out the security systems on Nublar?" Sam asked, curious. Tim moved his head from side to side in uncertainty.

"Slow going," he responded truthfully. "I've got all of Nublar's code uploaded to one of Sorna's servers but I don't have time to go through two million lines of code to find a small piece of coding. Instead, I'm running several search programs based on what I _think_ Nedry did and hoping one of them gets a bite. But he was a much better programmer than I am so I'm not even sure I will find anything."

Sam thought about it for a few moments as the two got into the vehicle and closed the doors behind them.

"Do you have all the footage from the Visitor Center's security cameras?" Sam wondered. Tim nodded his head.

"I'd be interested in looking at it sometime in the future, but you could look at it and see if maybe it picked up something that Nedry did around the time they all shut down," the Head of Production offered.

"Good idea," Tim agreed. "Oh, that reminds me that I need to stop by Embryonics Administration to check on something."

That caught Jake and Henry's attention and they stopped getting into their vehicle.

"Well if you're going we may as well go too," Henry said. Sam fully expected that from them and held up his hands to quiet them.

"Look, it's July 4th and I'm not having anyone working today," he firmly stated. "Tim, exactly what are you going to be doing?"

"Just verifying a Cray got shut off; and if not, then turn it off," he stated. Jake and Henry did their best to not look alarmed that that was what he was going to do.

"There shouldn't be any Crays still online," said Lori confused by Tim's statement.

"And what do you need to do that requires both of you?" asked Sam choosing to ignore Lori's question.

"Well actually it doesn't require both of us," Henry amended, trying to deflect suspicion. "I just need to pick up some paperwork for tomorrow to save Jake and myself a trip out here."

Sam thought it over and then turned to the two of them.

"Get in, get out, get back to the Village before the party starts," he ordered. The two nodded their heads and moved to the vehicle at the front of the line and it trundled off into the jungle. Sam then turned to face the rest of them.

"Okay, everyone let's just make this clear. Don't worry about tomorrow or the day after or anything like that tonight. Instead, have fun and enjoy yourselves. We'll get through this, I know we will," he told the group. The others nodded their head and trudged off towards their rides. Stephanie Sandelder watched the entire exchange curiously while unbeknownst to her, Nicolette Stefrassa was also considering the situation but also keeping an eye on the new arrival. Like Jake and Henry, she knew something wasn't right about her and vowed to keep an eye on her knowing that Jake and Henry were too busy. As if she didn't have enough mysteries to unravel at the moment…

Later, still:

At the Harding household Sarah Harding and her mother were relaxing at the dinner table as Jess was playing her Sega Genesis again.

"So when's your next trip out?" asked Mrs. Harding curious. Sarah looked over at the calendar on the wall.

"Sometime in middle to late August," she answered. "We'll be studying rhinoceros and cataloging everything we can about them. There's a theory that if you compare the changes in animal behavior over a period of time you can then backdate it and possibly know what their behavior was like a long time ago."

"Sounds interesting," Sarah's mother admitted. "Where will you be going to do it?"

"Ken-," began Sarah when the phone began ringing.

"I got it!" said Jess immediately as she got off the floor and ran for the phone. The two other Hardings watched her run for it and went to resume their conversation.

"You've reached the Harding residence. If you're trying to sell something on July 4th I've got a turkey baster to shove up your-,"

"Jessica!" snapped Mrs. Harding admonishing her daughter as Sarah laughed into her hands.

"In your own way, you encourage this behavior," Sarah's mother told her.

"Speak up, I can't hear you," said Jessica to whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"I do not," Sarah disagreed lightly. "In fact-."

"DADDY IS THAT YOU?!" shouted Jessica loudly startling the other members of the family and instantly grabbing their full attention. "Hold on, I'll put you on speakerphone. Mom and Sarah are both here."

"Yes it's me, Jess, and I was hoping the rest of the family might be around," Gerry Harding confirmed on the other end of the line.

"Good to hear from you, dear, it's been awhile," his wife remarked. "We were beginning to worry about you."

"Sorry about that," said Harding apologetically. "I'm sure it's obvious by now that something bad happened related to work. But things are finally starting to quiet down a little bit here so they gave me a chance to call you."

"So I guess this won't be a regular occurrence then?" asked Sarah, partly digging for information with that question.

"No," Harding confirmed disappointed. "There's going to be an information blackout until they get Jurassic Park: San Diego finished and open for business."

The others were not happy with that news but knew they had little choice in that decision.

"But you are safe, right?" Mrs. Harding needed to hear.

"Absolutely," said Gerry immediately, although Sarah could sense a slight hesitation in his voice that there was more to the story. "But enough about me, how have you all been?"

"I lit the grill on fire," said Jess teasingly. "Oh and I went to-."

Sarah made a quick slash with her hand across her throat and Jess immediately changed direction.

"…Hang out with Sarah at her place," Jess finished.

"Well don't forget softball practice coming up," her father reminded her.

"I won't," Jess promised.

"And Sarah, don't forget about your upcoming field excursion," Gerry reminded his other daughter wryly, having completely forgotten when she was going the last time they spoke.

"I won't either," she remarked exasperated.

"Excellent," said Gerry pleased. "And, hon, thanks for keeping things together for me."

"I always do," said his wife amused but dearly missing her husband.

"Thanks," said Gerry grateful. "Look, I hate to cut this short but a quick goodbye means…"

The entire family supplied the next part of the family saying. "…A longer hello the next time," they concluded.

"You'd better be around to give that hello in-person," Mrs. Harding lightly threatened.

"I will, I promise," Gerry swore.

"Daddy, I don't know what happened wherever it was we went but…well, you know," said Jess not quite bringing herself to say what was on her mind.

"Thanks, kid," said Gerry glad that she wasn't holding a grudge against him. "Don't forget, after this is over we'll go see a Padres game."

Jess immediately brightened at that as she and her dad were both diehard San Diego Padres fans. "Yeah, yeah, we'll make the playoffs for sure this year!" Jess boasted. Her mother and Sarah exchanged a chagrined look. The Padres were at the bottom of the NL West this season and had a zero percent chance of catching up to the Atlanta Braves.

"Of course we will," her father agreed. "And Sarah…"

Sarah immediately focused on her elusive father and whatever he was doing that was so dangerous she couldn't let go from finding out what it was.

"Dad, I-," she began feeling a little helpless about her situation. She wouldn't stop digging no matter what, but she didn't want what could possibly be the last conversation she had with her father end on a low note.

"I know and quite frankly I don't blame you," Harding offered, knowing what she was feeling. "But you may not like what you find," he had to warn her.

"Yes, but I can't give up; you taught me that," she said assertively.

"Absolutely and I will do the same," he concurred. "And so, the only thing left to say for now is, 'I love you all'."

"I love you too, daddy," said Jess immediately.

"Me too," Sarah chimed in.

"I'm your wife so you should already know how I feel. But if you're not back here the day whatever it is really blows over, then you'll know for sure," Mrs. Harding warned. Gerry laughed at that.

"And here I thought the locals were the only ones to be afraid of," he commented. That wording immediately grabbed Sarah and Jess's attention. "I'll catch you all later."

Several repeated goodbyes were said on both ends and then the line went dead. Shortly thereafter Mrs. Harding excused herself from the room before she could burst out into tears for fear of her husband's welfare. Sarah looked over to Jess who looked at her with trepidation. The older Harding sister held out her hand to the younger one who grabbed it and then the older sister pulled her into a deep hug of love and reassurance. And on Sarah's face, determination once more crossed it that she would get to the bottom of this mess and get her father safe and back home alive.

Sorna: The Fourth of July festivities were in full swing as fireworks burst in the skies above the Village. Everyone was doing their best to ignore their worries and have fun, but it was plain to see that their troubles were still there lurking below the surface.

Gerry Harding had taken his seat once more after having called his family and looked totally despondent over the whole affair. Roberta Carter was the same way after having called back to her old workplace of County General Hospital in Chicago, but she refused to talk about it. Lori Ruso was concerned about her friend's wellbeing but otherwise was enjoying her steak and banana daiquiri. The junior scientists seemed to be enjoying themselves although Colin was at wits end trying to keep Katrice from being the life of the party. Nicolette Stefrassa was sitting at the management table with Sam Stone. She didn't want to be there but knew that she had to keep up appearances and also avoid Sam later having words with her if she didn't attend. As for Dave and Sheila, they were feverishly trying to make sure the fireworks went off without a hitch.

Daniela St. Ives was in the back sequestered with the rest of the Indigo arrivals. They were doing the best to enjoy themselves but they were clearly spooked by the shadows of the dinosaurs as well as the occasional roar. Even further back still was Dr. Laura Sorkin and her assistant David Banks. They weren't saying much of anything to anyone else but were discussing when they should make their leave to return to the Fortress that night. While they did have quarters in the lodge, they chose to spend as little time there as possible and slept at their workplace whenever possible.

Finally, Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu sat at their own table and were looking at the results of the Cray XMP's DNA comparison analysis.

"I don't suppose it could just be a random fluctuation in the code," asked Jake reluctantly. Henry Wu immediately shook his head.

"Not with this amount of variance," he said, pointing out the obvious. "This can only mean one thing…"

The one thing the two scientists feared the most had finally come true. "That someone deliberately altered the code," the two said together in hushed but deeply concerned tones.

75 days until fence failure.


	41. Planning for the Aftermath

Time passed…

A Jurassic Park gas powered jeep tore through the jungle as Jake sat in the driver's seat next to Henry. Both of them had weapons out and were aiming them at the trees ahead of them as a group of dilophosaurs leapt out and fired their venom.

"More of these guys?!" shouted Jake irate and terrified. "There's no way we made this many!"

"They must've bred on their own," said Henry through gritted teeth as he fired at them, knocking them down but not before a couple globs of venom hit the windshield and then fell off. The jeep then finally broke through the tree line and a damaged electric fence before racing up a long stone bridge over the jungle.

"Thanks goodness that's over," said Jake relieved as he briefly wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"I would breathe easy just yet," his colleague disagreed as he nodded his head up at the sky. "Look."

Jake opened his eyes and looked up and clearly didn't like what he saw. "Oh, shit," he remarked as dozens of pterodactyls lined the sky ahead of them clearly interested in attacking the jeep.

"Don't complain, just keep firing!" Henry ordered and the two continued unloading their guns into the sky mowing down dozens of the creatures as still more rained down on them sideswiping their jeep and nearly knocking it off the bridge. After a few very long minutes of this, the pterodactyls finally lessened their attacks as something nearly as deadly charged their way down the bridge.

"Trikes!" shouted Henry as the two fired at the massive three-horned dinosaurs. Their bullets were not powerful enough to break through the skull of the massive creatures but their shots did distract several of them and they fell off the bridge to the ground below. Still, even more got through and a couple sideswiped the jeep before continuing on.

But one triceratops wasn't charging them, instead it just sat there on the bridge and didn't look at it was going anywhere.

"If that thing's not moving…," Henry began ominously.

"…Then I guess we are!" Jake concluded as the jeep roared off the side of the rock bridge and slammed back down onto the ground. To both scientists amazement they didn't slam into any trees but then they were again set upon by dilophosaurs as the ground was also covered by sleeping ankylosaurs.

"And back to where we started," Jake grumbled as the two fired at the dilophosaurs attacking the jeep and to wake up the ankylosaurs that were in their way.

"Of course an ankylosaur would sleep through this and be the one creature most predators would find inedible," Henry remarked annoyed as the jeep whipped past a number of sign posts with the word "Caution!" on them seemingly mocking their desperate situation.

After several moments of being pounded and slamming into the sides of a few ankylosaurs, the jeep crashed through a cave ahead filled with rocks and wrecked Jurassic Park jeeps. It finally emerged down a jungle path.

"Looks like we're entering Area 2," Henry noticed.

"I'm amazed we've made it as far as we have," Jake admitted as he again wiped off his forehead from sweat. "Course, our jeep is just about a goner."

The jungle path was now filled with more sleeping Ankylosaurs but more importantly, several large living tree trunks spanned the road, those tree trunks being the necks and heads of brachiosaurs.

"Well we can't worry about that now," Henry said, stating the obvious as he fired at the brachiosaur necks. As with the anyklosaurs, the shots wouldn't kill the creatures, only sting them enough to get them to stop blocking the path. Unfortunately, one of the brachiosaurs didn't move in time and the jeep ricocheted off of the side of its head but somehow still managed to continue on its forward course. In the background, the dinosaurs were braying angrily.

"We can't take much more of this," Jake shouted over the noise. "We're in real danger here, Henry."

"Yeah, I can tell," Henry said as he continued firing as the jeep roared over another stone road over the trees and more brachiosaurs covered the area in front of them. "But if we can make it to the river we'll be fine until we get past the canyon."

"Right," said Jake as the jeep finished going over the stone road and returned once more to the underside of the canopy. It was a place that should've afforded them at least some protection from the brachiosaurs who now couldn't see them.

BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…

"Not this," Jake said defeated as brachiosaur feet suddenly began slamming down through the canopy all around them. Far too many one would think to account for the bodies somewhere higher up and out of sight.

And while the two tried to put a valiant fight to shoot the legs of these creatures to get them to lift up and clear their way…it was too much for the two scientists to overcome as their jeep raced straight at one of the legs they'd failed to hit.

"Jake, it's been a honor," Henry apologized as Jake threw up his hands in front of his face to try and ward off the inevitable. The jeep slammed into one of the brachiosaur legs and burst into flames.

…

….

…..

…

….

SNAP…POP!

"How can you two play this game so much and suck so badly at it?"

Jake lowered his arms and looked in front of him at a screen that read: "Continue?" and below which was a number counting down which had just reached zero. Around the screen was an arcade cabinet which at the top read: "Sega: Jurassic Park".

Looking behind their bench, the two they saw Sheila Matula standing behind it who had just popped a bubble with her gum and was now pulling it inside of her mouth to continue chewing on it.

"Badly?" scoffed Henry, bewildered by her statement. "This is the farthest we've gotten with only one life. When we first started we couldn't even get past the T-Rex at the beginning of the game."

Jake was putting in initials for their run and then the leader board appeared immediately thereafter.

"Still…compared to ol' one shot," Sheila pointed out as she tipped her head at the top of the best scores list which read: "LAR" a.k.a Lori Ruso's initials which were leaps and bounds above everyone else. A close second, relatively speaking, was KCM which were Katrice Maken's initials and then the scores plummeted from there.

"Don't blame them," said Lori cutting in as she was also hanging around in the arcade room wasting time. "I'm a military brat through and through. Living with my family meant constantly honing my abilities. It's not their fault my hand-eye coordination and quick reflexes sometimes means a higher score on some of these games."

The sound of basketballs hitting the net was heard and the quartet looked over to see Katrice at the basketball hoops game goofily throwing all sorts of trick shots with the mini basketballs and sinking every single one of them. Nearby, Collin was playing a custom made arcade game Ray Arnold had built had built called "Mr. DNA" where you had to quickly work hard on repairing a constantly revolving and changing DNA helix. The game had been developed during the days when the Dinosaur Revivification Project had driven everyone up the wall and it helped alleviate the stress.

"Then how do you explain her?" asked Sheila of Katrice before she popped another bubble. A particularly wild shot ricocheted off the rim and smacked into the screen of Collin's game startling him. He immediately snapped his head over at Katrice who was now beet red as she held her hands over her mouth in shock. Collin calmly bent down, picked up the ball, deposited it in the bin, and then dragged his protesting sibling from the room.

"Innocence of youth?" asked Lori taking a sip from her mug.

"I don't think anything explains her," Jake ruminated before returning to his position in his seat as Henry got up and stretched as Sheila took his place on the plastic bench designed to resemble the jeep.

"Still, isn't it kind of creepy playing this game now?" Sheila admitted unsettled as she watched the eye catch sequence play. "I mean when Hammond first gave it to us way back when it was kind of fun imagining a situation like this and being a one-person army fighting off hordes of dinosaurs. But after the Jurassic Park Incident and everything else…" the female programmer shuddered feeling chilled all of a sudden. Lori reached over and gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

It has been a week since the Lockdown had formally gone into effect. And Samantha Brown had been absolutely right with her statements during her speech on Nublar as a strange vibe had immediately settled over all the staff on the workers. It was difficult to explain how it felt, but there was definitely a sort of uneasy tension in the air. Sam Stone, sensing the unease amongst the workers the first day had immediately given everyone the week off. Ludlow had been against the idea but Samantha had managed to convince him it was for the best.

"You're right it is a little creepy," Jake agreed, surprising the others but not making light of Sheila's concerns. "But we still have to live our lives. Henry and I have been trying to improve our runs on this game for awhile now and we can't just give up on it."

"He's right," Henry agreed with a nod. "Normalcy is the one thing we still have right now. So we have to hold onto it as much as we can."

"And speaking of normalcy," said Sam Stone, Head of Operations on Sorna, as he walked into the room and leaned briefly against Capcom's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs arcade machine. "It's time for the senior staff meeting so let's get going. Sheila, we'll need you in the Control Room since Tim will be at the meeting."

Groans were heard amongst the others in the room as Sam gave them a soft shake of his head before turning and leaving the arcade room. The quartet filed out towards the exit when something occurred to Jake.

"Hey, Sheila, if you still really think that badly of my gaming skills then I'll challenge you to a game of your choice any day any time," he said with a hint of amusement in his eyes. Lori and Henry gave a soft chuckle at that as a sly grin spread across Sheila's face and her momentary funk seemed to finally clear.

"You're on," she promised and then split from the other three and headed for the basement and the Control Room. A couple years prior, Jake had challenged her to a round of Super Off-Road, an arcade game he played a lot, only for Sheila to hack the machine the night before so that when she put her name into the player field, it not only fully upgraded her vehicle but also gave her unlimited turbo boosts meaning she'd wiped the floor with him. It was a hack that still existed in the game today.

The trio of workers followed Sam down the hallways of the Operations Building, past the lobby with the Jurassic Park mural, and then into the administrative section of the building as they entered into the conference room. On the far wall was the food table which consisted of partially dried out bagels, muffins, and clearly re-filtered coffee. The latter perhaps explained why most of the workers around the table were clearly still trying to wake up despite it being 9:00 a.m. and why Roberta Carter looked like she was still in dreamland. At the far end of the table sat Stephanie Sandelder who was ready to start dictating notes. So far she'd been a little bit of an enigma to the rest of the group and was just one more sign of things being out of place.

"Morning everyone, sorry about the food but it's either start rationing now or starve later," Sam confessed as he took his seat at the head of the table and laid out his dossier.

"I thought we were still supposed to be getting regular shipments of food and other essential supplies from the mainland," said LoRu confused as she took her seat, took a bite of her muffin, grimaced briefly, and continued chewing on it.

"Are we 'supposed' to, yes," Daniela St. Ives confirmed. She was just to the side of Sam having decided to act as close second in command of the island rather than co-leader. With everything going on, the island needed a single person to provide leadership and this island wasn't hers to command. However, Sam had decided that the docks where her workers would be stationed was entirely her domain and he would exert no influence over them unless absolutely necessary. It was an arrangement for which she was grateful.

"But are we 'going' to, that's the real question," the former head of Indigo concluded as she drummed her fingers on the table. "I think we have to operate under the assumption that we really are alone out here cut off from the rest of the world. If we get supplies, that's great, but otherwise…"

"Right," said Lori leaning back in her chair not happy about it but knowing everyone was in the same boat together.

"The food situation is not terrible," said Sam to the group while putting a positive spin on it. "With strict rationing we have about 45 days worth of consumables plus what we can get out of the MREs afterwards. Now, we won't focus on this today or even tomorrow but I've got Alejandro looking into subsistence farming to supplement our food supply. He says that because we're in tropical climate, fruits are already growing on the trees which we can harvest. And by essentially turning parts of the island into plots we could grow other crops such as agama, soybeans, and other vegetables as well. He thinks we can do this with the supplies on hand."

That was news to the group as each considered that possibility.

"But he really thinks he can grow all this in the time that we have?" asked Gerry Harding having a hard time believing all of this. "I mean we could easily make a large compost pile with all the dinosaur dung and trash we have out in the landfill but none of this stuff will grow overnight."

Sam shrugged lightly.

"Well, yes and no," he told the group. "When InGen surveyed the island they didn't really completely comb the entire place to know every square inch. Even with all the work we've done we still probably have only expanded out to maybe 65 percent of the island and explored around 75 percent of it. Finding that Native American pyramid came as a shock to all of us and that thing was several stories tall."

Nicolette bristled at the thought of being shocked by anything, especially since her team had accidentally stumbled across that pyramid. But even she was feeling a little off by the lockdown and other issues going on so she said nothing to rebuke what had been said.

"But long before this island became our home it was originally a German mining site for a longer period of time than we've been here so far," Sam reminded the group. "They were on this island mining iron ore along with other minerals and when they weren't mining they were living and exploring here. Their notes that InGen later acquired show that they were also farming on this island and hopefully whatever they grew might still be around even today. So Alejandro will be taking a team to go into the places of the island we haven't gone and find these crops if they exist."

"And if they can't?" asked Jake, playing the usual role of naysayer. Sam turned towards the scientist.

"Then if the geneticists on this island aren't making dinosaurs then they should be looking into ways of accelerating the growth on these plants," he answered. Jake looked at him wide-eyed before exchanging a glance with Henry who was also stunned.

"That's not really our area of expertise," Henry began reluctantly. Sam nodded his head.

"No, but with everyone on your team some of them must have some experience in the area. See what you can come up with," Sam requested and turned back to the group. "Moving on to other matters, Roberta, how're things on your end?"

The Doctor snapped awake after a slight nudge from Lori.

"We finished our inventory at the end of June and the good news is that barring a major disaster, we should be fine until Jurassic Park: San Diego opens and we start getting supply shipments again," she began while reviewing her notes. "To try and conserve power we've stopped operating all the remote clinics. The Field Clinic and the small infirmaries inside of the Hammond Administration and Embryonics Administration buildings will still be staffed, but minimally. Instead of having many physical locations, we're going to try and send staff with any detail that might be doing hazardous work as well as convert some of the electric jeeps into portable hospitals and ambulances."

"Good," said Sam with a nod of his head, pleased. "And how is island morale?"

Bobbie just held up her hands as the response to that question.

"Fine," said Sam not happy about her flippant response but willing to let it go for now. "Lori, how is the tour going?"

"About as well as can be expected considering they question everything I show them and ask for details I often can't divulge. Beyond that, I've taken them everywhere within close walking distance so we may hop a ride out into boonies and then hike back," she let him know.

"Okay and how are the power saving measures going?" the Head of Operations asked next.

"On track," Lori acknowledged. "Floodlights around the island will only be switched on if we know a team is going to be out there at night. Motion trackers have also been disabled for the herbivore pens and will only do periodic sweeps of the carnivore pens at a daily set amount of random intervals."

The statement was unsettling to everyone but it was either that or have the fences fail that much sooner.

"Power has also been shut off to all emergency bunkers, supply depots, and boat houses; while the airfield will be shut off later today," Lori continued.

"What about power to the Village, are there any plans to cut that off to help power the fences?" asked Gerry cutting in. Sam shook his head.

"Not at the moment. Frankly things are bad enough without worrying about power outages here. The geothermal vents are giving us the juice we need to power this place for as long as they keep producing heat," Sam let the group know which provided some sense of relief. "But I'm not completely dismissing the idea. I've got electricians looking into the geothermal and fuel generators because right now the two systems are not compatible. The geothermal system was only designed to power the Workers Village, the perimeter fence around it, and a couple of the closer pens for temporary storage.

Once the Dinosaur Revivification Project took off, more infrastructure was needed which would have overwhelmed the geothermal system. So that's why we have the fuel-based generators which provide power to everything else on the island. Unfortunately, a situation like the one we're in now never occurred to anyone when the systems were designed and that's why we need to conserve every drop of fuel. So if the engineers come up with anything, I'll let you know," said Sam wrapping up that subject. "Tim, how're things on your end?"

The male programmer at the end of the table cleared his throat in order to gather his thoughts. "No complaints. The work on the tour vehicles has gone better than expected and should be fully online in the next two to three weeks."

Sam jotted some things down and then looked back at the programmer.

"I'm grateful that you and Sheila have been able to speed that up so much, but that's still a little bit later than I'd like. Could you shave any more time off of that?" Sam requested. Tim reluctantly shook his head.

"We were able to successfully import almost the entire coding for the tour vehicles from Jurassic Park, which helped take a lot of time off our initial projections. But it's the smaller technical issues that need the most work and if not done, will only cause problems down the road. We're debugging the entire tour program now because it will help cut down not only on maintenance later but also help a lot with conserving power. When they ran the tour program that final time on Nublar, the vehicle headlights were running off the car batteries. That's power wastage right there and it's not the only issue we've run across. Overall, we will be saving on fuel by switching over to the electric vehicles but the fewer of these issues we tackle head on, the less those savings will be in the long run.

Plus there's the fact that you'd like us to also introduce manual controls to the vehicles for stopping and starting as well as choosing track junctions if necessary. Switching maps in the tour vehicle OS is an easy thing to do because the GPS program was designed to allow for updates as the park expanded. But the system was never designed for any form of manual control. If you got out of the vehicle while it was moving, it would keep moving unless someone in the Control Room stopped the tour program. To introduce those parameters will require extensive programming and testing which we barely have time for with everything else going on. Now, we could go without the testing phase to cut time, but I'm sure Lori can provide plenty of reasons of why not to do that," Tim concluded. Lori nodded her head furiously at that. One runaway tour vehicle had been enough for her.

"Alright, alright," said Sam knowing when to back down. "Just do your best to get it done as quickly as you can. Speak with the shift supervisors in the motor pool about reassigning personnel to help you as needed and say its all fine with me," he suggested. Tim nodded his head, grateful.

"Anything else you'd like to bring up?" the Head of Operations asked. Tim glanced at his PDA.

"Just one for Jake and Henry," Tim began as the two scientists tensed. "Is Carly and a couple other geneticists doing a special project or something because over the past couple of weeks she and her team have been pulling a good amount of computer resources and I was curious why."

The two scientists knew better than to react to that so as not to draw undue attention to their secretive work on the lysine contingency. That news was of extreme interest to Gerry Harding and Nicolette Stefrassa.

"She and a handful of others are working on a special project," Henry acknowledged; although he made sure not to say what it was. "With the Crays offline that pretty much means no more new dinosaur DNA strands to clone. So to give some of our workers something to do, we're having them go back and look over the DNA strands currently on file for any anomalies and stuff like that. Everything they're doing is well within the limits you gave us on computing power."

"There's nothing to be concerned about, I hope," Sam half-joked nervously. Jake shook his head.

"I think our biggest issue is what's going to happen in 68 days," he remarked lightly while deflecting the question.

"Touché," Sam acknowledged. "You two have anything else to report?"

"Apparently we're now in the business of growing crops," began Jake sarcastically before he yelped in pain as somebody kicked him underneath the table.

"That aside, to conserve power we're down to about a clutch a week," stated Lori who was still involved in production even despite leading the tour around.

Daniela scrunched up her face briefly as she thought about that. "Couldn't you move production back into the Workers Village where power isn't an issue?"

Lori shook her head. "Not really. One of the reasons we moved out to the Hammond Administration Building, Embryonics Administration, and other outlying structures was because we'd expanded beyond the capabilities of what we had here plus we needed more space to operate. It also would've been too costly to upgrade what we had in the village than just build an entirely new system from scratch out in the field. We could move back but quality assurance would fall through the floor for anything we might be able to produce."

"Oh," said Daniela then turning silent and realizing once more how out of touch she'd been with events on this island. She had to get up to speed fast or else risk causing problems unintentionally from her lack of knowledge.

"In other news, Venn and Chang plus their crews think they they've got enough legwork done on a couple new species already in the pipeline that with the resources still available to us they can be brought to term," Wu noted before looking at Stone a little annoyed he had to be bring this up. "They want your approval to go ahead with embryo implantation and fertilization."

Sam shifted a little uneasily in his seat. As part of the lockdown procedures, decision making became largely centralized and that included things like the Dinosaur Revivification Project, something Sam knew little about and subsequently wanted nothing to do with.

"You sure it won't be a drain on resources?" he asked, cautiously. Jake and Henry both shook their heads.

"Tim and Nicolette both ran the numbers and they're well within acceptable limits," Whitacre added.

"Where would you store them while they're incubating and then afterwards once they hatch?" asked Sam for his next question. "I wouldn't be surprised if you and the rest of the scientists have to abandon the outlying buildings as we get closer to the days the fences fail."

"If that happens, we're going to see about maintenance getting the incubators inside the Operations Building fully serviced and ready for any eggs still in the gestation period. The original nursery is next to it and should house any juveniles we might have that are still too young to be introduced to the adult population," Henry answered. Sam sighed internally at being backed into a corner.

"And if I say no?" he had to ask defeatedly. Jake and Henry looked at him harshly.

"Then you'll have problems from above. Even though we're on lockdown, that doesn't mean the scientific staff can't quit and leave for more lucrative opportunities," Henry reminded him. "If we're not producing at least some new species periodically and doing genetics work on the ones we do have, we'll lose our best talent and this project will be hurting once everything is finally back to normal."

Sam nodded his head and waved his hand lazily to let them know to go for it.

"If I let you do this, I need a favor in return," he let them know. "I need you to go to the Fortress and tell Laura Sorkin she needs to vacate the place by the end of next week."

That was a little bit of a surprise to the two scientists. They had intended to speak to Laura sooner rather than later but not to bring the news she had to leave the facility. She wouldn't like that.

"Is that really necessary?" Henry asked confused. "The Fortress runs on its own local geothermal power source, it's not drawing power from the grid."

"I know that," said Sam annoyed at them trying to play the same delaying game he just had. "But they still need regular supply drops and we can't afford to send up a truck of supplies up the mountain every week. We also can't run track up there either because of the winding road to that place and I wouldn't trust any vehicle to make it up there that's running on automation. She's got to go, there's no other alternative."

"Okay," said Henry not pleased about that decision. "You realize if the fences fail, that's the probably one of the safest places on the island beside the Workers Village."

"Yes, I know. And it won't come to that," Sam swore. "Tim, I want you to send Sheila up there also because she'll need to be there to shut everything down."

"Right," said Tim, pleased that was working out like he'd hoped it would.

"I'd like to go too even if it's just to get away from doing the tour for a day," Lori requested. "I haven't been up there in ages and I'd like to do an equipment check and supply count of what they've got up there."

"Go for it," Sam agreed. "I'd like to know myself. Anyone else want to go?"

He wasn't expecting anyone else to volunteer but was floored when Nicolette spoke up.

"I need to venture up there as well. Although you were not being entirely serious about the fences failing, the truth is we need to be prepared for such an eventuality. The think tank and I are currently working on plans of action if the worst case scenario does occur and the Fortress is a very defensible position," she pointed out. She was also discussing a topic Sam would prefer to have avoided at this date so early in the lockdown.

"But it's not going to come to that is it?" asked Bobbie concerned.

"Is it 'supposed' to, no; but is it…," began Jake condescendingly when Sam held up his hand to shut him up.

"We're going to be fine, but it doesn't hurt to explore all possibilities," he remarked, trying to play peacemaker as Daniela glared at Jake. "Gerry, I'll hear your report next but I do have a request for you also. The DRT team is going to be doing a complete and thorough check of the fences on the island and since you're technically their boss, I'd like you to oversee them while they do this."

"Done," said Gerry immediately. From what he'd witnessed being trapped on Nublar after the fences failed, triple-checking everything was an excellent idea in his mind. "As for my report, there's not much to say. We've also completed our inventory check and we're good on supplies for now. As long as there isn't another stampede or any of the carnivores decide to turn on each other, we should be fine with treating them."

"But _should_ we be treating them?" asked Daniela sharply. "In 68 days it'll either be them or us and the fewer their numbers..."

Sam could sense an argument brewing and made an effort to put a stop to it before tensions boiled over. It was going to be a long couple of months.

"Samantha said the only way we're going to get through this is if we stick to our set routines and continue on as normally," he made them remember. "Healing injured dinosaurs is something Gerry and his team has been doing for years now and that's not going to change unless it becomes too dangerous or we run out of supplies. And that's the same for everyone. Keep doing your job because it'll help keep your mind off everything else. Understood?"

The others grumbled their understanding as Stephanie wrote down numerous notes on the morale of the island.

"See that it stays that way," warned Stone before turning his head to his right. "Daniela, what's up on your end?"

The second-in-command was glad to be focused on matters she cared deeply about. "We're all settled in the visitors lodge and the team leaders and myself did an inspection of the east docks already. We're going to do a more thorough check with the entire team sometime this week and then develop and start training our employees on our new surroundings.

I do want to make one thing perfectly clear. In the past whenever a boat arrived here some of you would make a mad dash to the docks for your supplies. That's all over now. My team needs complete isolation to conduct a thorough inspection of everything coming onto this island and then release them where they will be distributed at the Workers Village. At no point are you to come to the docks when a boat is in the harbor and you are to never harass my employees to get your stuff pushed through sooner.

I trust you all here not to be that way and I need your commitment that you will relay this to the employees under your supervision and so on down the chain of command," Daniela requested. Everyone affirmed their commitment to that point and that they would make sure everyone knew the rules.

"Thank you," said Daniela a little relieved that hopefully dealing with this issue now would make things smoother as time went on.

"Okay, I think that concludes today's meeting," said Sam trying to relieve some of the tension in the room. "We've all got plenty to do to keep us busy for awhile and should make the time go faster."

"Yeah, but is that a good thing?" asked Jake trying to get in the last word as he got up and Daniela lightly whacked him on the back of the head as everyone headed out the door leaving just Sam and Stephanie, the latter of whom was writing down some final notes and then began putting her stuff away.

Sam let out a long breath of air to help relieve his stress as he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head.

"Regretting you came here?" he asked of his new administrative assistant.

"No," said Stephanie after a moment's thought. Sam shrugged lightly.

"I wouldn't hold it against if you did. It's not always easy reining them in," he admitted, mainly to himself.

"Do you ever wonder if they aren't telling you the whole truth?" Stephanie had to ask. Sam laughed at that.

"I'm not naïve by any means. I give my workers the benefit of the doubt that when it comes to telling me the truth they will. If I think something is becoming an issue then I'll confront them. But make no mistake about it; I really do think everyone here is committed to seeing the DRP project succeed and has everyone's best interests at heart," Sam promised her. "I know you can't see that now, but in time you will."

"Very well," said Stephanie not entirely convinced as she snapped the cap back on her pen and put it away.

"I forgot to ask if there was anything you needed to bring up at the meeting," Sam apologized. He was still getting used to having her around but she'd already made his job a lot easier by doing all the administrative tasks he'd been doing in addition to his own workload.

"For right now just some uninterrupted access to the file room so I can start organizing everything," she requested. Sam nodded his head and the two walked from the meeting room and to the file room. As they reached the door, Stephanie got out her keycard when Sam stopped her.

"Things aren't quite so fancy here I'm afraid," he remarked as he took out his keychain and began looking for the right key for the standard door lock. "We'll get you a copy of your own soon."

Stephanie looked at the sight of a standard door lock utterly confused.

"Why isn't there a standard keycard reader for this like the rest of the locks in this building? The door locks would be much stronger than a deadbolt," she remarked. Sam snorted at that heavily amused.

"A keycard reader won't do much good when your female technician who shouldn't have access to this room thinks it's a good idea to sneak a blonde-bomb in here to scare the crap out of one of your lead scientists in some half-baked form of revenge for missing gum so she makes her own dummy keycard," he said, shuddering as he remembered the incident. "The mess that made has never been fully cleaned up."

As he unlocked and opened the door, he flipped on the light revealing a room in near complete disarray. Several file cabinets were still resting against each other while others had their drawers open and papers sticking out in random directions while more stacks of papers were lying on the floor. Only a handful of cabinets looked untouched, although if the files were organized in them couldn't be known without opening them. Stephanie couldn't only wonder what had happened to cause this mess.

"How long ago did this happen?" Stephanie had to ask as he lightly stepped over papers and past listing cabinets.

"Seven months ago between the holidays and New Years," Sam recalled as he tapped his hand against his chin thoughtfully. "Good thing you're here too, my file cabinet is almost full because that's where I've been filing everything since then."

Stephanie knew better than to sigh as that was a form of weakness, but she sure felt the urge to groan. Ludlow had failed to mention this when he'd explained the specifics of her job here.

Still, she was never one to back down from a challenge…

"Very well, I should do my best to organize this as time and workload permits," she promised.

"Thanks," said Sam grateful as he gave a big smile. "If anyone needs me, I'll be at the airfield."

"Great. Have fun," said the Administrative Assistant miffed as she waded deep into the mess as Sam closed the door behind her. Stephanie refused to be undaunted by the mess in front of her. If anything, organizing it and learning what she could about the goings on with this island would allow her to better accomplish her mission that Ludlow had assigned her.

She just hoped she'd be done before another 65 million years had passed.

Outside, Sam Stone stepped out of the Operations Building and into the sunlight. It was going to be a beautiful day and for that he was grateful as he hoped it would get everyone off on the right mood to start working with the Lockdown into effect. Starting down the steps he headed for the garage to get a look at what vehicles were scheduled to go out into the field so he could plan his best route to getting to the airfield. As he joined his fellow workers who were also perusing the posted list and engaging in regular small talk, he couldn't help but feel that everything was going to be okay in the end.

…Because the power failing and E.L.E. being put into effect was almost too unbearable to think about.

68 days until fence failure.


	42. Grounded

Airfield: "Please don't do this," Jennifer pleaded, which was something that was atypical for her. She was standing in front of Sam Stone and next to Kevin as workers spread across the hanger hard at work. Right now the group was locking down the entire facility and taking specially designed chocks that they were putting into place around the DC-3 wheels and then drilling into the floor. Similarly, other workers were taking heavy chains and securing them to the wheels on the helicopter to prevent it from leaving.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," said Sam sympathetically. "But this is part of the Lockdown procedures. No one is allowed to leave the island without authorization and so precautions have to be taken."

That had the expected effect of setting the female pilot off. "You've already taken all the fuel! These things aren't going anywhere so you don't have to cage them up!"

The previous Monday before he had called the impromptu week off, Sam had come with a contingent of workers who had siphoned the fuel from the plane and helicopter and then took all the drums of oil and fuel to places unknown.

"It's just an added failsafe," Sam tried to reassure her distractedly while giving out some orders. "I know you and Kevin wouldn't willingly take off from this island without orders, but the honest truth is we don't know where things will be in a little over two months. By putting our foot down now and saying we're not going anywhere, I'm hoping it will convince everyone that we're here to stay."

"But what are you going to do with the airplane fuel and oil drums? I know fuel mixture ratios and if you put that stuff in the gas powered generators it'll probably blow the whole system," Jennifer stated firmly, knowing she was right.

"It's been safely secured," the Head of Operations assured her as he got a report from one of the workers and began flipping through it.

"Where?" demanded Jennifer needing an answer. "If things go to shit in 68 days and we need to haul ass out of here you'd better damn well be sure that your two pilots know where the fuel is so we can all leave before we get eaten."

Jennifer always resorted to swearing when she was at wits end and anything that impacted the aircraft always put her at the end of her rope.

"If it comes to that, then I'll be the one making the decision to leave and then the fuel will be returned to you but not until then," said Sam firmly beginning to get a little fed up with her attitude. Jennifer shook briefly but then flicked her hands as if saying that was all she had to say on the issue and settled down.

"So what's going to happen to Kevin and me?" the female pilot asked next, already knowing she wouldn't like what the answer was going to be.

"First of all, I want you to know that you can still come out here as time and workload permits and you can officially service the vehicles once every two weeks," Sam prefaced his following statement to try and soften the blow of what was coming next. "But in the meantime, you're being reassigned."

Jennifer regarded that with a mixture of disgust and horror, disgust for being separated from the aircraft and horror because she had a pretty good idea where she would be reassigned.

"No!" she shouted in protest while shaking her head furiously. "I'm not going to go work with those grease monkeys in the motorpool!"

Sam audibly groaned at her comment.

"Why not?" he had to know, even though he wished he didn't feel compelled to ask that question.

"You might not know this, but there are fraternities of mechanics for aircrafts, motor vehicles, boats, and every other vehicle-type out there," Jennifer informed him as if he were a small child. "And we don't get along. The mechanics on the ground think that we aircraft mechanics always have our heads in the clouds and look down at them from the skies. Likewise, we think of them as nothing but jealous of us because they're stuck in the past thinking two-dimensionally about everything. When we come together, sparks fly and not in a good way."

Sam was now stuck in the unfortunate position of not having the slightest clue if she was being honest or just trying to pull one over on him. He'd certainly never heard any of this before, although he had to begrudgingly admit that those in the motorpool were a society almost all their own and Jennifer and Kevin did prefer to isolate themselves from the rest of the island.

"I'm no landlubber wrench wench," Jennifer swore, finally concluding her thoughts. "If I go work for them, those chauvinist pigs in the garage aren't going to care about my skills as a mechanic. They're only going to care that I'm an aircraft mechanic and the only things worth paying to attention to me are these and these," she concluded while pointing her hands at her chest and then her legs; both of which were in grease stained coveralls.

This time Sam did know she was trying to exaggerate the situation. "Nice try, but there are several female mechanics in the village garage and if they were being harassed they'd have come to me about it. Sure, they are all a bunch of oddballs but they get the job done and right now I need everyone I can hard at work to ensure we make it through the lockdown in one piece. You're moving back to the village lodge and you report bright and early Tuesday morning for your assignment."

Jennifer was definitely steamed at his refusal to reconsider her position.

"Fine!" she snapped at him before it finally dawned on her that all this time Sam had been speaking in a singular tone and not plural. "Wait, what about Kevin?" she asked defensively for her fellow pilot.

Sam shifted a little uneasily as did Kevin. "His is a unique situation. He's already at the optional retirement age set by InGen and had already begun seriously considering the idea. Due to the Lockdown putting any further thoughts of retirement on hold, Samantha has decided that Kevin is to be given a much lighter workload. He'll be working off and on with Nicolette, Lori, and me as we draw up plans for what will happen if we do have to evacuate this island. Other than that, he's free to relax and enjoy his unofficial retirement."

Jennifer couldn't believe what she was hearing and spun to face Kevin who had a slight guilty look on his face.

"You're leaving me," the female pilot said in a soft voice with what almost sounded like a whimper. She had always looked up to her fellow pilot as her mentor but to hear this now from Sam…

"I'm sorry, kid," said Kevin apologetic but not regretful over his decision. "I'll still be around and I'll try and do some work in the garage with you also, but I've lived a long life and worked nearly every day of it. And if everything does hit the fan in 68 days, I want to go out on my own terms."

"Words to live by," swore Jennifer harshly with a look of pure anger in her eyes. Without saying another word, she stormed from the hangar leaving the two others alone as the rest of the workers had finished their work and headed out.

"She's a real firecracker," Sam noted with a disappointed shake of his head.

"Yes," Kevin partially agreed. "Is she sometimes arrogant, cocky, and full of herself; absolutely. But she's also one of the best pilots I've ever known and a damn good mechanic, which is why she acts that way. She does need some humility, I'll give you that, but that will come with time and experience. But in a firefight or any other situation where aerial support or evacuation seem absolutely hopeless, she will be there for you and she'll succeed. You need her on your side because I won't be around forever."

"Who was she before this?" Sam wondered aloud. "What is she even doing here if she's that good?"

"If you really want to know, you can always ask Samantha Brown to look at her personnel file," Kevin began hesitantly. "But she's here for any of the two reasons we're all here. Either we're the best at what we do but have no place to show off our abilities or we've screwed up so badly that this is the only place left that'll take us."

Sam slowly digested all of that information as he again looked out the crack in the hangar doors where Jennifer had exited.

"And have I lost her?" the Head of Operations asked, curious. Kevin shook his head as he briefly clasped Sam on the shoulder.

"No, she'll come around eventually," he said knowingly. Kevin knew the young pilot inside and out. He'd never had much of a family life, but in her own brash way Jennifer was the closest thing he'd ever have to a daughter.

"Okay," said Sam nodding his head willing to let her insubordination slide for now. "On to other matters then; I take it you ran the final fuel check numbers?"

Kevin nodded his head.

"And?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Damn," said Sam closing his eyes and wishing he hadn't gotten that response.

"Is that what Nicolette came up with also?" the male pilot asked. Sam nodded his head as he rubbed his eyes.

"Do you think she knows?" asked the Head of Operations as he tipped his head at the exit, indicating Jennifer. Kevin shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets and the two slowly walked towards the door.

"I think she has a pretty good idea but can't bring herself to know for certain," he figured. Sam filed that away for the future.

"So what does that mean now?" asked the pilot uncertain about the future.

"The same as it always has. We either crash or crash through," said Sam with gritted teeth as the two emerged into the light and the hangar doors were closed behind them and locked. The two boarded the vehicle with the rest of the workers and it set off back to the village.

Embryonics Administration: "So that means we are all systems go!" shouted Jake from the catwalk down to the workers in the bay. Cheers arose from the group at knowing they could finally direct their efforts to cloning the two new species. It was not a process that was going to happen overnight despite all the groundwork having been laid. It would take several weeks if not more of testing and perfecting the DNA strands to produce a viable embryo and have a creature hatch from an egg, but that was work everyone was looking forward to because it would keep their minds focused and alert and not worried about what was coming next.

It was also a great relief to Henry and Jake as neither one could think of a good idea of what to do with the workers during the Lockdown with resources several limited. With the majority of the scientific staff focused on the cloning process it also allowed them to focus more on the issue of the altered DNA sequences.

The two were almost back at Jake's office when they saw Carly Carlson leaning against the wall just outside.

"Can I talk with you?" she requested. The two scientists nodded their heads and let her into their office and they shut the door behind them. Jake took his customary position behind his desk as Henry took a more laid back position and sat on the couch in the room off to the side as Carly took her seat opposite Jake's desk.

"What's up?" asked Jake concerned. Carly looked at them both.

"How did your analysis on the Crays go?" the female scientist finally asked.

"There was a variance," Jake admitted, not hesitating for once to tell her the truth.

"Random?" Carly asked spooked.

"It doesn't look like it," Henry chimed in from the side. Carly thought about that for a few moments before balling up her fists resting on her legs and then uncurling them as it to relieve tension.

"That's what we think too," she agreed in reference to what she and her team had managed to find out. Henry and Jake nodded in stride to what she had said.

"Any idea what got changed?" asked Henry curious if her team had had more success than them since the Crays were shut down before telling them that answer.

"Not yet. Since we could never physically read through the entire DNA strand of even one dinosaur, we've focused on reading certain parts we think might have caused what we witnessed in the cages," said Carly still horrified by what had happened when she had stayed late one night to work on something and been called in to deal with several dinosaurs going ballistic. "Right now we've got a simple computer program going through the coding for the lysine contingency from the genetic samples we took from the terminated specimens. At the same time we are still going through the sheets of coding we do have to supplement that."

"Anything interesting?" asked Jake, hopeful. Carly shook her head.

"Nothing yet, it all seems normal," she admitted a little helpless about the whole thing.

"Well, I wouldn't get too discouraged," said Henry trying to be sympathetic about finding an answer he knew he'd dread. "Just do as best you can."

"Thanks," said Carly feeling a little bit better that she'd had a chance to talk about all this with them. "But now that Venn and Chang are going to be heading up those projects, what should I do with the team? Should I keep them on their current assignment?"

Jake and Henry fervently shook their heads. "No not now. This could end up digging up some secrets we probably would wish stay buried. They could use this as a breather for awhile and just work on this project as time and workload permits. Besides, we don't want to raise suspicions if we don't assign them to it and instead have them working on some hush-hush project," Henry said. Carly nodded, relieved.

"I'll let you know what we come up with if we find anything," she promised and then headed for the door.

"Hey Carly, Henry and me will be incommunicado for the rest of the week, but how 'bout a round of tennis this weekend?" asked Jake trying to get her mind off her problems. Carly gave a light smile at that.

"Sounds like fun," she agreed and then left the room leaving the two alone. Jake looked at his desk and began rifling through his inbox and looking at the papers in there. After a few moments he turned to look at Henry who had an amused grin on his face he was trying to hide.

"What?" demanded Jake annoyed since he wasn't sure what his friend found so funny.

"You sure are acting nice…nicer than usual," his colleague had to admit. "Maybe this Lockdown has affected you except in reverse."

Jake rolled his eyes upon hearing that. "I'm just trying to follow Samantha's advice and avoid causing more headaches than necessary. Besides, I've got too much on my mind right now to cause trouble. If what we think is going on _is_ going on, then it'll cause more headaches than I ever could. Afterwards, if this all blows over, I'll be back to my normal form."

Henry nodded his head reasonably and let the subject go for more important matters.

"We need to get to Kenya," he finally stated, bringing up the elephant in the room.

"I know, but how are we going to get there?" asked Jake bringing up the other important issue. "We can't go by plane because they're locked up, we can't go by boat because none of them can handle the open waters, and as for the you-know-whats locked up in the you-know-where; those need to stay where they are until E.L.E."

"We'll have to think of something," said Henry refusing to get discourage but knowing they were up against the wall. "Assuming we can get out of here, how long do you think we'll need to be gone?"

Jake thought about that for a few moments as he leaned back in his chair before sitting back up and spinning around to look at his wall calendar.

"I think it'll take two days to get there and another two days to get back. Once we get there, depending on a variety of factors it'll take anywhere between three to seven days to do our analyses to find what we're looking for."

"A week to a week and a half," said Henry mulling it over. "I don't think we'll be able to come up with a convincing alibi for why we'll be out of touch for that long or if we don't give them one when we leave, for where we were when we get back."

"Plus not getting caught in Kenya," Jake further reasoned not looking forward to that eventuality. "We get caught here and it's not a big deal but if we break the Lockdown…"

"Ludlow would hit the fan," Henry agreed nodding his head at that horrible thought. "So why don't we just talk to Samantha? She could get us off this island."

Jake had a look of distaste upon hearing that. "I don't think that's such a good idea. A. This really doesn't concern her and the less about all this the better until we have proof and B. without her knowing, that gives her deniability that she'll need to not have Ludlow also go after her," he confessed. "This is our problem; we'll deal with it ourselves."

"In that case, as things get closer to the day the fences fail, things will be hectic and chaotic around here. That might give us a better opportunity to get out of here. Circumstances permitting, I say we will leave mid-August," Henry figured. Jake nodded his head and made a small mark on his calendar for the second weekend of the month with the words "fight or flight".

"Not to beat a dead horse, but I just wish I knew where Gustavius is and what he is up to," Henry complained for the utmost time. "Nobody knew the lysine contingency better than he did."

Jake knew that was true. "I don't where he is now, but the last time he called he was asking about glucocorticoids, acetylcholine, and neuroplasticity," said the scientist still baffled by that call even though it had been made four years ago. "Do you have any idea now what that all meant?"

"Damned if I know," Henry confessed as he leaned forward. "And so that's a mystery for another day. Now…"

The lights began dimming in the room as machinery was heard firing up in the bay outside. The two looked at each briefly before heading for the door and when outside from the catwalk, looking down at the cloning assembly line start moving. Down below, Lori Ruso and her team were clad entirely in scrubs and other protective clothing as they began checking the assembly line for contaminants and defects. She had just finished issuing some orders when she looked up and saw Jake and Henry looking down at her.

"It's good to have you here, LoRu!" shouted Jake as he cupped both hands around his mouth so his voice would be louder. She snapped them a thumb's up and went back to working as Jake and Henry retreated back to the office to discuss other matters. In truth, Lori Ruso wasn't permanently back on the job. She was just taking a break from giving the tour so she could get some real work done. And knowing she was working in an area one member of the tour would give anything to see but probably never would was of great enjoyment to her.

InGen Headquarters, San Diego: Samantha Brown entered her office and dropped down on her desk exhausted from yet another several hour boardroom meeting that had seemingly gotten little accomplished. It was clear that Ludlow and she were the only ones who had any idea what was really going on at Site B but Ludlow clearly had his own agenda for what to do with that island. She personally would rather work with the personnel to try and develop a plan of action for what was to come. But given they were rapidly running out of time and they still had unanswered questions from the Jurassic Park Incident, she wasn't sure which course would yield better results.

Sighing to herself, she reached into her bag and pulled out the preliminary report of Ludlow's investigations into the Jurassic Park Incident. She had read the report backwards and forwards several times and each time she continued to get the impression that information was being deliberately left out of it.

That she, as InGen's Head of HR and also a trained therapist, had been cut-off from speaking with these clearly traumatized individuals was a warning bell in her mind.

In the past, she might have left it slide that Ludlow would reveal the truth when it was time. But she couldn't shake Henry and Jake's desperate request that she get them the raw interview transcripts of the survivors of the Jurassic Park incident.

They suspected something she didn't and that equally frustrated her.

There were too many secrets going on for her liking. It was like everything had been bottled up hidden behind the dam that was Jurassic Park and when it went down, the dam began to start leaking. And once it fully ruptured, she feared it would take InGen down along with it. And so she had to figure out just what the questions were so she could find her answers and save the company.

Reaching down her blouse she pulled out her necklace and attached to it was the genetic sample Gerry Harding had given to her with the implication that it held many of the answers she was looking for. The sample was too important to really leave out of her sight even though it was dangerous to her career if she was ever caught with it so she returned the necklace to where it originally was.

Turning to her computer, she accessed the company's intranet and found the listing for all the genetic testing facilities InGen owned. They were scattered throughout the globe due to the number of amber mines InGen contracted out digging work whose samples needed testing. But one in particular drew her attention the most, the one at InGen's original dinosaur cloning facility in Kenya. The other locations were mainly for recording new DNA strands from mosquitoes trapped in amber as well as DNA fragments recovered from ground up dinosaur bones. But Kenya was designed for comprehensive DNA analyses. With the other location also able to do that being on Isla Sorna, which was out of the question, it meant it was the one destination she could take her sample to try and get some answers.

Well…that wasn't entirely true. As the female HR representative found her eyes drifting lazily out the window, she saw through the window a building in the distance that caused intense anger and loathing on her part. The building in question was the Pacific Pharmaceuticals headquarters and somewhere in its walls was a man who still managed to bring out all of her emotions.

John Brown was a topic she thought was finally past here but now even in her new position at a new company he had come roaring back into her life. When they'd been married, she learned of Henry Wu and Jake Whitacre by association and that the two scientists never saw eye to eye with the man, which caused considerable tension between them. When that animosity had first started, she was never entirely sure, but over the years of their brief and tumultuous marriage, she had begun to feel how they must have and so things had fallen apart between them.

But now that he was back in her life and more importantly because it involved the company she now worked for, it meant there was yet another mystery that needed solving. Jake and Henry told her he had stolen the embryos and that meant he knew a lot more about the company than she had previously thought.

Normally his underlying motives were not that hard to determine. He was interested in power and profit for the company he worked for. But as Jake, Henry, and Carly had all pointed out, the busted embryos were useless. They had no value because their genetic codes had been scrambled after the coolant in the canister had run out. So the canister wouldn't really help achieve either of those goals in a cheap or timely manner. This raised the question of why he was so determined to have it.

Thinking about it was likely going to drive her crazy. Whatever he was up to with the canister would just have to wait for later. Instead, she decided to focus on a goal she thought she could accomplish: getting her hands on the unedited transcripts from Alan Grant's time in Jurassic Park. Jake and Henry were desperate for them and if she could finally get them on her side, some of the mysteries driving her crazy would be solved…hopefully.

But even with that goal, there was still another piece of the puzzle she knew she was avoiding and without confronting it sooner rather than later would only cause more problems down the road. As the Lockdown continued and the deadline for E.L.E. drew closer, InGen would likely threaten to split in half between the board in San Diego and the workers on Sorna just like it had during the aftermath of the A-1 incident.

She immediately buzzed her secretary and got a response. "Sheryl, I need you to do two things for me. One, get me a list of all the computer technicians who worked on the Jurassic Park Demolition project because there's one programmer in particular I want to contact. Two, and this is most important, I need you to get in touch with John Hammond's butler and tell him I demand an audience with Hammond before the end of July. Otherwise, I'll activate an executive power of mine and accuse him of abandonment of his job and have his voting rights stripped of him."

One way or another, she'd get her answers.


	43. Interview

A/N: Some of this stuff is very much in line with the Jurassic Park novelization. So, again, a reminder that I own nothing related to this franchise. I'm just using it here because I thought it was a good idea that never materialized in the movies. But overall, I would say this entire storyline is one semi-step removed from any of the existing continuities, movies, games, comics or otherwise.

Next day: Workers bustled about eager to get to work so as not to have their minds on the impending fence failures. From the workers lodge, Jake, Henry, Lori, and Sheila walked towards the garage to find a ride out to the docks where the supplies would be loaded to be taken to the Fortress.

"So what's going to happen to your tour group?" asked Henry, curious.

"Bobbie is going to be taking them out to the docks later today so they can look around and Thorne can reclaim his Mercedes-Benz SUV from impound," Lori explained stretching out her arms.

"Anybody seen Nicolette?" asked Jake looking around confused. The others glanced around but saw no sign of her.

"Well, knowing her she probably is already at the docks waiting for us," Sheila figured, her tone evidence that she was still not entirely happy about being forced out of the Village to go to the Fortress.

"Good point," Jake admitted with a nod of his head. Daniela St. Ives and her team had been allotted five gas powered vehicles to take staff solely to the docks until the electric tour vehicles were fully up and running. The Indigo Team had so far left at the crack of dawn every opportunity they had and didn't come back until the work day was over or sometimes later if necessary as they prepared their work area.

The four workers read the schedule and looked at the chalkboard which showed what vehicles were going where and how many workers they could take. They found a vehicle that would take all of them to their destination and wrote down their names and then headed into the garage to the staging area where the vehicle was being prepped, eager to be on their way.

Behind them, Jennifer trudged her way to the garage, not happy about having to be on a set schedule and working in the motorpool garage. Walking in the entrance, she took the downward sloping ramp and walked past various vehicles in different states of repair. She saw the group of Henry and the rest from earlier clustered around a vehicle and tried to avoid them seeing her as she slunk into the main office area where the mechanics got their assignments for the day.

Walking in, she saw a couple workers in there getting some water and food that turned, looked at the new arrival, and promptly stared at her in shock.

"What's she doing here?" asked one of them incredulously at her appearance. "I don't remember there being any openings for a wrench wench whose head belongs in the clouds."

"Yeah, don't try and think we don't know you're always looking down on us landlubbers from up above," the other remarked testily.

Jennifer ignored those comments and marched straight up to the chief mechanic, Hugh, and held her right hand up to her head.

"Jennifer from the airfield reporting as ordered, sir," she said condescendingly and gave an equally half-hearted salute. Hugh sighed before chuckling briefly.

"To answer your question," said Hugh in a heavy Creole accent as he turned his head to his colleagues. "What the main boss says goes goes; even if that includes bringing our friend here down to earth from her lofty perch."

The two workers scoffed at that, but otherwise said nothing to further antagonize the new arrival.

"Hello, Jennifer. Welcome to the Gallimimus Garage," Hugh said in welcome, although he did not get up out of his chair and offer his hand. "I think it's time we laid out some ground rules for your stay with us.

The first is that while I know you and Kevin liked to isolate yourself from the rest of us workers, we won't have any of that here," Hugh continued decisively. "In the garage we are a team first and foremost. We either rise or fall based on our weakest link. And right now, that's you," he told her bluntly. "You have mechanical experience and that's definitely a positive mark in your favor, but working on ground-based vehicles isn't exactly the same thing as dealing with aircraft. So you will be placed under an apprenticeship program. You will work with a different assigned mentor on all sorts of different shift rotations.

You do well and you'll advance up the ranks and be free of your apprenticeship and can become a full fledged mechanic and part of the team. You do poorly and you'll find yourself reassigned to janitorial staff. I don't intend for that remark to be an insult towards them. They do excellent work and I have the utmost respect for them. But it's not the kind of work for me and I get the impression it won't be for you, either.

Are we understood?"

Jennifer composed herself as adopted a steely expression on her face.

"Perfectly, sir," she said while barely avoiding clenching her jaw.

"Good," said Hugh knowing she wasn't happy but knowing there was little he could do to change her disposition. So instead he took out a sheet of paper and handed it to her. "This is your schedule for the week and I'll be checking up on you periodically. You'll find your first assignment down in slip 17 where they're doing an entire engine block replacement. Should be enough work to even get you hands on experience rather than just being an observer. Good luck, kid."

Jennifer dipped her head just enough to stand square between respect and disrespect and left the office. The two other workers in the room watched her go before turning to the boss.

"What do you think?" one of them had to ask. Hugh looked at them annoyed.

"I think you two have had enough of a break and should get back to helping Tim and Sheila with those Jurassic Park jeeps," he snapped at them. The two workers straightened up at that and quickly left the room. Hugh shook his head annoyed before returning to his work of figuring out ways his department could contribute to conserving power.

Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco: The offices of the EPA were always bustling with activity and today was no different. There were ongoing investigations, reports to be files, cases that needed to be updated, various penalties to be levied; the works.

In one particular office sat Bob Morris, an EPA investigator, plugging away on some new case he was working on. It was an unusually hot day in the office but while he had already discarded his suit jacket, the young man still wore his shirt buttoned up and his tie on over it. He had earlier debated shucking off his wing-tipped shoes so he could relief some heat but decided he'd rather avoid the awkward situation of having to put them back on in case someone came and needed him for some reason.

He was so engrossed in his work, he barely heard the knocking on his office door.

"Come in," he said, a little glad to be distracted from his work. The door opened and a woman around his age and a younger teenaged female poked their heads in. This surprised the agent as he was at a loss as to who they were. He briefly debated looking through his schedule book to see if he had any appointments that day, but instead decided they must be lost.

"Hello, how can I help you?" he asked, trying to be friendly.

"Yes, are you Bob Morris?" asked the older woman, throwing him for a loop. His next thought was he hoped they weren't members of some crazed environmental group out to make an example out of him for something he'd done while on the job. He made sure to rest his hand on his phone just in case he had to quick dial for security.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," he said next, trying to stall for time and get more information at the same time.

Knowing she was now in the right office, the two pushed their way into the room. "My name is Sarah Harding and this is my sister Jessica Harding," the woman continued introducing the two of them as the two slung off their backpacks. "It took us a little bit of research to track you down, but we're glad you work on the west coast."

That really set off alarm bells in Morris's head as he picked up the phone receiver.

"Do you have an appointment?" he asked, trying to delay as he started punching numbers into the phone.

"Well, no," Sarah admitted.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help you unless you do," he said quickly and he finished dialing his phone and heard the dial tone, hoping security picked up it sooner.

"Please, it's a matter of life and death," Jess said desperately to avoid being kicked out.

"Not my problem," said Morris a little harshly but not wanting to hear it as the phone was picked up. "Hi, Steve, it's Bob, I need-."

"We're here to talk about International Genetic Technologies, Inc., or as they're more well known, InGen," said Sarah trying her last card. That caused Bob to completely stop talking and just stare at them intently trying to figure out if they were on the level or not. They at least looked sincere, or could decently fake it, but what really made him hesitate in throwing them out was his deep desire to know more about the subject that had just been brought up.

"Sorry, Steve, it looks like nothing. I'll call you back if I'm wrong," he said, an indicator to be alert but not alarmed to the security guard and hung up the phone. Still, just because he'd let them off the hook didn't mean he would be taken for a fool.

"Okay, who sent you?" he asked, acting aggravated at the topic having been brought up.

"I don't understand," said Sarah confused as she and Jess sat down and took out their notebooks and pencils from their packs. Bob gave her an annoyed shake of his head before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"The InGen investigation went nowhere almost three years ago. It was yanked out from under me and I got reprimanded for it," he said as if stating something they should already know. "So if this is a practical joke by whomever sent you, I'm not laughing. Very funny you guys!" he shouted out the doorway but failed to hear any snickers or chuckling from people out of sight.

"Sounds like the dude has a few screws loose," Jess whispered in his sister's ear but was immediately shushed.

"I promise you I'm not here as a prank," Sarah promised. "I didn't even really know for sure you had investigated InGen until you just confirmed it for me. The reason I'm here is because our father is Gerry Harding and he works for InGen and we think his life is in danger. We really need to know what you found out about that company, but if you won't help us then we're wasting our time and will go find our answers somewhere else," she ended sharply. She wasn't in the mood for games. She'd been getting enough of that from her mysterious stranger.

Her words slowly forced Bob to reassess his initial opinion on the two individuals in the room. The name Harding did ring a bell and it could have had something to do with that bio-engineering company…

Sighing and wishing he wasn't buying into their story, he opened the bottom drawer of his file cabinet and retrieved a file that by all rights should've been destroyed when the investigation was canned. But it was a story he couldn't quite let go of no matter how much time had passed. He rifled through the parts of the file that contained personnel he'd hoped to interview and found a listing for Garry Harding, a veterinarian that he'd failed to locate and speak with before the abrupt termination.

"How do I know you even are his daughter?" he asked, still skeptical. Sarah gave him a smug look.

"As an animal behaviorist at San Diego University, the EPA has consulted with me before in the past. You should find a record of me in your computer," she said, pleased she'd outmaneuvered him on that one. "My sister would be in there too, but her status as an ecological menace is just below the attention of the agency."

"Hey!" shouted Jess not happy about being the butt of that joke.

Bob chuckled briefly at their repartee but decided that he wasn't going to look her up in the system just to prove her point.

"Okay, yes, I did investigate InGen," he admitted willing to be open with them. "I was contacted way back when by the Office of Technology Transfer because they were concerned InGen was up to something suspicious by transferring a lot of heavy genetics equipment to Costa Rica."

"Interesting," said Sarah as once again InGen was tied into that small Central American country. She'd have to consider going there herself to see if she could dig up more answers…unless her upcoming planned assignment to Kenya didn't delay her plans. "Genetic technologies to do what?"

"Analyze and sequence DNA strands," the EPA agent replied, trying to give her the simplified version. "There were Cray XMP supercomputers and hood gene sequencers to start off. They also purchased a patent for a polymer that had primarily been used to act as a type of eggshell but was useless to those who originally developed it because they couldn't make it any smaller than an ostrich egg. Really bizarre stuff altogether that drew some suspicion that something shady was going on. And so I assigned myself to look into it."

"And how much did you uncover?" asked Jess, also really interested in the whole tale. Bob Morris stopped himself and looked at the two of them.

"You can write this down, but it's all strictly off the record and I'll deny having said it, understood?" he informed them, not willing to take any choices that this would come to haunt him later.

"Absolutely," Sarah promised.

"I didn't get to interview anyone from InGen directly but I did find some people who InGen had done some subcontracting out to who were willing to speak with me about the work they had done," Bob Morris revealed to them as he sifted through his notes. "One particularly insightful interview was with Doctor Alan Grant who is a paleontologist working for the University of Denver. About seven years ago, InGen began funding his work and in return he gave them information for something called…," Morris paused as he looked at his notes, "'juvenile hyperspace.'"

"What?" asked Jess as she scrunched up her nose completely confused by that term.

"It means he was consulted on the behaviors of young animals," her older sister supplied since she was fully versed in the concept having done on research on countless animal hyperspaces over the years in her work. "What they eat, what sort of environment they live in, how the animals interact with each other, stuff like that."

"Oh," said Jess nodding her head, understanding what she was talking about. She then wrote down the name Alan Grant as that name seemed familiar to her somehow.

"Juvenile hyperspace for what kind of animals?" asked Sarah of the EPA investigator. Bob shifted uncomfortably behind his desk as he looked to make sure the door was securely closed.

"Again, _off the record_," he stressed as if a little fearful what he said next might cost him his job. Both Harding sisters nodded their heads.

"They were asking about the habits and behaviors of dinosaurs," he told them finally.

The Docks, Isla Sorna: The workers from Isla Indigo hustled and bustled as they continued to prepare the docks for any incoming ships. At the front gates, Jake, Henry, Lori, and Sheila had their IDs thoroughly verified and then had their belongings thoroughly checked before they were allowed entry into the area.

"Sorry about the whole nine yards," Daniela St. Ives admitted, a little apologetically as she greeted them beyond the entrance area. "But we have to be careful that nothing unauthorized gets off this island."

"Anything new on the supply front?" asked Lori hopeful. Daniela shook her head.

"It's either 'pending' or 'to be determined', take your pick," she offered sympathetically. "But, at least we can hook you up with some coffee and breakfast while you're here."

Expressions brightened around the group as Daniela led them to the small administration building that was part of the complex that mainly consisted of warehouses.

"So where's Nicolette?" asked Henry, curious. That got a confused expression from Daniela.

"I don't follow. She's not here," was the answer, surprising the group.

"Well, she was supposed to go with us to the fortress," Lori said, stating the obvious.

"Maybe she changed her mind or will be in later or else took a gas powered jeep to get there already," Daniela reasoned.

"Maybe, but that doesn't seem like her," Lori said, a little concerned.

"I think this island has thrown all of us off schedule. I wouldn't worry about it," continued Daniela dismissively with a wave of her hand. "Now how about after breakfast I give you a tour of how this facility will operate with us in charge…"

San Diego: Sarah shot a concerned look at her younger sister out of the corner of her eye. The mention of dinosaurs before had almost caused her to have a complete meltdown. But to her relief, Jess seemed okay.

"So…this isn't a surprise to either of you," said Bob cutting into her thoughts. He was both surprised and relieved by this.

"Let's just say that off the record, it matches with some other information we've found," her younger sister said as she absently tapped her pencil against her notebook, wondering about this turn of events. It all seemed distantly familiar to her, but she still felt like she was missing pieces to the puzzle in regards to her missing memories and what InGen was up to. Perhaps finding the individuals Bob Morris had tried to interview might give them more insight into what was going on.

Bob was about to say something further when some hustle and bustle outside caught his attention.

"Oh no, not these idiots again," he said unapologetically as he groaned while rolling his eyes. He then pinched the bridge of his nose while rubbing his eyes as Sarah and Jess looked outside and saw several people being lined up in the hallway by police officers.

"Something we're missing?" asked Sarah confused.

Bob Morris shook his head lightly. "Not unless you count a mountain of paperwork and a headache for the next several hours. They're environmentalists from Earth First and breaking the law is their specialty," he said as he gathered up his InGen documents. "Let's make a quick trip to the copier and then I'm afraid that'll have to conclude our meeting."

The two Harding sisters thanks Mr. Morris for his time as they all walked into the hallway.

"Jess, why don't you hang out here for a few moments and we'll be back with the copies," Sarah said to her sister. Jess briefly wondered if Sarah was up to something but just shrugged her shoulders because the request seemed innocent enough.

"Okay," she answered simply as the two others headed for the copier room. As soon as they got there, Sarah shut the door behind them and leaned against the copier.

"Be honest with me," Sarah pleaded lightly. "Do you think InGen is really making dinosaurs?" she said, bringing up the proverbial elephant in the room.

Bob sighed as he began making the copies and stared at the concrete wall in front of him. "I think they are. And I sure as hell hope I'm wrong."

"And why is that?" Sarah needed to know for the sake of her father and herself.

"There's one thing I didn't tell you back there because I didn't want to scare your younger sister since your father works there," Morris began as he fed more copies into the machine. "In the past eight years, InGen has settled more wrongful death lawsuits than most companies have that have been around since the early 1900s."

"I see," said Sarah unsettled by that fact as she crossed her arms. "Anything recently?"

"You'd better believe it," Morris admitted as he vigorously nodded his head. "I can't officially keep tabs on them anymore, but I still get the occasional word through the grapevine here. A few weeks ago something very bad happened in Costa Rica to them. I can't find any details but people got killed, others were paid off, the whole shebang. And this isn't the first time either. There've also been scattered events going back through the years.

Like something that happened back to a Costa Rican village that John Hammond saw fit to get involved with. And it all leads back to some kind of pinnacle event in 1986 at InGen's Kenya facilities. Whatever it was, I can't find any firm details it's that closely guarded of a secret. But I can only read between the lines and make guesses about it."

"But what makes you think it's related then?" asked the animal behaviorist playing devil's advocate.

Bob Morris gave her a haunted look. "Because in less than six months after whatever happened, InGen completely bailed on their amphitheatre out there by ceasing all construction on something they'd been working on for close to two years. They then began transferring all that stuff I mentioned earlier to Costa Rica. Then all their wrongful death settlements against them started coming from that location."

The copies were finished and Morris handed them to Sarah who used the time to put them away as a way to digest that information.

"Do you know where their facilities are in Costa Rica?" asked Sarah next as the two entered the hallway to return to her younger sister.

"Not a clue," Bob Morris answered with a quick shake of his head. "It was at that point that my investigation got pulled."

"And why was that?" asked Sarah, having intended to ask him that earlier but had forgotten. Bob stopped and looked at her seriously.

"During my investigation there was a man who led me on a trail chasing breadcrumbs in regards to finding out information about InGen," he said as a chill ran down Sarah's spine. "And from your expression I can see he's latched onto you now. I have to warn you, no matter what his attitude or appearance, he's dangerous. I got too close to proving what InGen was doing and he tried to warn me off. I didn't and I'm pretty sure he was the one who got my investigation pulled and nearly got me drummed out of the agency."

Sarah nodded her head. "Thanks for confirming what I already suspected."

Morris held out his hand and she shook it. "Best of luck in your further investigations. If you need anything, I assume you have my information because _he_ gave it to you. Be careful."

Sarah gave a silent acknowledgment of that and the two parted ways. Sarah was so lost in her thoughts she barely noticed the Earth First people lined up against the wall until she saw her sister being unusually chatty with one of them…a man Sarah immediately recognized.

"Oh, hi, Sarah, I was just…I mean…this is…," began Jess flustered when Sarah patted her sister on the shoulder as a mild warning against fraternizing with older men.

"Don't worry about the introductions," she told the younger woman. "Hello, Nick. Still causing trouble I see."

The thirty-something Caucasian man with the brown curly hair gave his best lady killer smile as he chucked to himself. His name was Nick van Owen and his path had crossed Sarah's on a few occasions whether photographing her university excursions or being part of protest groups opposing them.

"Hi, Sarah," he said warmly while paying no attention to her comment about his actions. "I should've known you two were related, I can see the resemblance of beauty on you both."

Sarah narrowly avoided a grimace at that thinly veiled pickupline as Jess turned bright red she was blushing so hard.

"Go climb a tree," she said lightly as she began pushing her sister down the hallway. "Speaking of, where did they arrest you this time?"

"Same place as usual, the Amazon," he answered. That question gave Sarah pause as the gears in her head began turning. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face the man.

"You know the Central and South American geography pretty well don't you?" she stated. Nick shrugged as he thrust his hands into his jean pockets.

"As well as anyone I suppose," he said, trying not to sound brash.

"Do the words, Indigo, Nublar, and Sorna mean anything to you?" Sarah had to ask. "Besides their literal translations. I think they have something to do with Costa Rica."

Nick shook his head. "Doesn't ring a bell, but if you want I can try and find out," he offered.

"Please, as a favor to me," Sarah requested and Nick nodded his head, telling from her tone it was a serious request and decided not to give a glib remark in turn. They parted ways and the two sisters exited outside.

"Who was that guy, he's cute," Jess admitted a little dreamily.

"Just stay away from him," Sarah warned. "And focus on the matter at hand. Because I think we've just about gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire."

The two got into their jeep and rushed off away from the building. From the shadows, the enigmatic man who watched them leave and then consulted the date on his watch.

"Sixty-six more days," was all he said and then left the area.


End file.
